I)i£toric 


ANTHONY   WAYNE 


APPLETONS'  SERIES  OF 

HISTORIC     LIVES. 


Father  Marquette. 

By  REUBEN  GOLD  THWAITES,  Editor  of  "The 
Jesuit  Relations."  Third  Edition. 

Daniel  Boone. 

By  REUBEN  GOLD  THWAITES.    Third  Edition. 

Horace  Greeley. 

By  WILLIAM  A.  LINN,  for  many  years  Man 
aging  Editor  of  the  "  New  York  Evening 
Post." 

Sir  William  Johnson. 

By  AUGUSTUS  C.  BUELL,  Author  of  "Paul 
Jones,  Founder  of  the  American  Navy." 

Anthony  Wa.yne. 

By  JOHN  R.  SPEARS,  Author  of  "  History  of  the 
American  Slave  Trade,"  etc. 

Champlain :  The  Founder  of  New  France. 

By  EDWIN  ASA  Dix,  M.  A.,  LL.  D.,  Formerly 
Fellow  in  History  of  Princeton  University,  Author 
of  "Deacon  Bradbury,"  "A  Midsummer  Drive 
Through  the  Pyrenees,"  etc.  [Autumn  of  1903.] 

Sam  Houston. 

By  Prof.  GEORGE  P.  GARRISON,  of  the  Univer 
sity  of  Texas.  [In  preparation.] 

Sir  William  Pepperell. 

By  NOAH  BROOKS.     [In  preparation.'] 


Each  12mo.    Illustrated.    $1.00  net. 
Postage,  10  cents  additional. 


D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY,  NEW  YORK. 


ANTHONY    \VAYSE. 


SOMETIMES  CALLED   "MAD  ANTHONY'* 


BY 
JOHN   R.    SPEARS 


NEW  YORK 

tt>.  &pplctcm  and 
1903 


.*.     .  t  .4  COPTBIOHT,  1903,  BY 

D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


Published  August,  1903 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAQB 

I.     YOUTHFUL  EXPERIENCES 1 

II.  As  A  CITIZEN  OF  THE  COLONY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA      14 

III.  IN  THE  EAKLY  DAYS  OF  THE  WAR   ...      24 

IV.  WAYNE'S  FIRST  BATTLE 32 

V.  ON  THE  RETREAT  TO  TICONDEROGA  ...      40 

VI.  IN  COMMAND  AT  TICONDEROGA           .         .         .51 

VII.  IN  COMMAND  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  LINE        .      60 

VIII.     ON  THE  BRANDYWINE 68 

IX.     ATTACKED  IN  THE  NIGHT 76 

X.    A  BATTLE  IN  A  FOG 85 

XL  THE  CONDITIONS  AFTER   THE    BATTLE  OF  GER- 

MANTOWN          .        .         .         .  .         .97 

XII.  THE  VALLEY  FORGE  WINTER     .        .         .        .101 

XIII.  MONMOUTH 112 

XIV.  WHEN  WAYNE  WAS  SUPERSEDED  BY  ST.  CLAIR      128 
XV.     STONY  POINT 139 

XVI.  THE  "  Cow  CHACE,"  THE  TREASON  OF  ARNOLD, 

AND  THE  MUTINY  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  LINE     161 

XVII.    WAYNE  IN  VIRGINIA 177 

XVIIL  WHEN  WAYNE  RECOVERED  GEORGIA         .         .     182 

XIX.     BETWEEN  Two  WARS 195 

XX.  THE  WAR  ON  THE  FRONTIER     .         .         .         .200 

XXI.  AT  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  FALLEN  TIMBERS         .     205 

XXII.  WHEN  His  WORK  WAS  DONE    .        .        .        .225 

INDEX  ....    237 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PACING 
PAGE 


Portrait  of  Anthony  Wayne     .        .        .         Frontispiece 

The  Battle  of  Monmouth 122 

The  Storming  of  Stony  Point 154 

Gold  medal  presented  to  Wayne  by  Congress  .       .        .158 

Map  of  Stony  Point  battle-field 160 

Portrait  of  Arthur  St.  Clair 200 

Site  of  the  Battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers  .        .        .        .212 
The  Battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers 223 


ANTHONY  WAYNE 


CHAPTER  I 

YOUTHFUL   EXPERIENCES 

IT  was  in  the  midst  of  the  most  stirring 
period  of  the  history  of  the  colony  of  Penn 
sylvania  that  Anthony  Wayne  grew  from  in 
fancy  to  manhood,  for  he  "was  born  in  the 
township  of  Easttown,  Chester  County,  Penn 
sylvania,  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1745." 
The  Indian  traders  from  Pennsylvania  dur 
ing  that  year  penetrated  the  unbroken  wilder 
ness  as  far  as  Sandusky  Bay,  on  Lake  Erie, 
where  they  established  a  post,  and  thus 
greatly  alarmed  the  French  of  Canada,  who 
claimed  the  whole  Mississippi  watershed  as 
their  territory.  In  1749  the  French  sent  an 
expedition  under  Bienville  de  Celeron  to  the 
Ohio  Valley  to  "  restore  tranquillity"  among 
the  Indian  villages,  and  to  plant  certain  lead 
plates  in  the  earth,  each  of  which  was  to  be 
a  "  monument  of  the  renewal  of  posses 
sion  by  the  French."  But  this  did  not  re- 

1 


Anthony  Wayne 


strain  the  British  colonial  enterprise,  and  in 
1752,  when  Wayne  was  seven  years  old,  and 
well  able  to  comprehend  the  stories  from  the 
frontier,  a  dozen  British  frontiersmen  were 
building  cabins  in  the  valley  of  the  Mononga- 
hela.  At  the  same  time,  however,  a  French 
force  under  Charles  Langlade  attacked  the 
British  trading-post  called  Picawillany,  in 
the  Ohio  country,  and  that  attack  begun  the 
bloody  war  that  was  to  end  only  when  the 
French  had  been  driven  from  the  valley. 

Before  snow  flew  that  year  the  French 
had  built  forts  at  Presq'isle  (now  Erie),  Pa., 
and  where  Waterford,  Pa.,  now  stands,  at 
what  was  then  the  head  of  canoe  navigation 
in  French  Creek,  a  branch  of  the  Alleghany 
Eiver. 

A  year  later  (November  16,  1753),  Wash 
ington  crossed  the  Alleghany  Mountain  di 
vide  on  his  celebrated  mission  to  the  French 
at  Le  Bceuf,  and  in  February  following  the 
Virginians  were  building  a  fort  at  the  forks 
of  the  Ohio.  Then  came  the  French  under 
Contreco3ur,  to  compel  the  surrender  of  the 
new  stockade  on  April  17,  1754,  and  in  1755, 
when  Wayne  was  ten  years  old,  Braddock 
came,  intending  to  drive  the  French  not  only 
from  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  but  from  Niagara, 

2 


Youthful  Experiences 

and  from  Crown  Point,  on  Lake  Champlain, 
as  well.  The  story  of  the  frightful  slaughter 
that  followed  on  the  banks  of  the  Mononga- 
hela  was  thoroughly  well  known  to  the  youth 
ful  Wayne,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  he 
saw  the  miserable  troops  under  Dunbar,  who, 
in  their  retreat,  crossed  Chester  County  and 
reached  Philadelphia. 

Then  came  "the  two  dismal  years  "  of  1756 
and  1757,  wherein  the  Indians,  led  by  French 
officers,  crossed  the  Alleghanies,  and  with 
torch  and  tomahawk  raided  the  settlers  with 
in  60  miles  of  Philadelphia.  Worse  raid 
ing  was  never  known  than  that.  "  The  Indians 
do  not  make  any  prisoners,"  wrote  Father 
Claude  Godfroy  Cocquard,  S.  J.,  in  a  letter 
to  his  brother  in  1757.  "They  kill  all  they 
meet — men,  women,  and  children.  Every  day 
they  have  some  in  their  kettle,  and  after  hav 
ing  abused  the  women  and  maidens,  they 
slaughter  and  burn  them." 

Wayne's  father  had  been  a  militia  officer 
who  was  locally  distinguished  as  an  Indian 
fighter.  The  boy  lived  where  he  saw  the 
frightened  fugitives  from  the  interior  fleeing 
to  Philadelphia  for  protection.  He  heard 
their  pitiful  stories.  He  knew  all  about  the 
raising  of  the  force  that,  under  Col.  John 

3 


Anthony  Wayne 

Armstrong,  went  to  Kittanning  and  inflicted 
some  injury  on  the  Indians,  but  failed  to 
bring  peace.  Whether  he  knew  much  about, 
or  comprehended,  the  negotiations  with  the 
Indians  conducted  thereafter,  is  a  question; 
but  when  General  Forbes  organized  an  army 
at  Philadelphia,  in  1758,  to  retrieve  the  losses 
of  the  preceding  years,  we  may  be  confident 
that  Wayne  knew  all  about  that  work.  And 
how  all  these  stirring  events  affected  the  mind 
of  the  lad  is  a  matter  of  record. 

For  during  the  conflict  Wayne  was  at 
tending  a  school  taught  by  his  uncle  Gilbert 
(or  Gabriel)  Wayne,  and  this  uncle,  exasper 
ated  at  the  boy's  conduct,  wrote  the  follow 
ing  letter  to  Anthony's  father,  Isaac  Wayne : 

"I  really  expect  that  parental  affection 
blinds  you,  and  that  you  have  mistaken  your 
son's  capacity.  What  he  may  be  best  quali 
fied  for,  I  know  not — one  thing  I  am  certain 
of,  he  will  never  make  a  scholar ;  he  may  per 
haps  make  a  soldier;  he  has  already  dis 
tracted  the  brains  of  two-thirds  of  the  boys 
under  my  charge,  by  rehearsals  of  battles, 
sieges,  etc.  They  exhibit  more  the  appear 
ance  of  Indians  and  Harlequins  than  students. 
This  one  decorated  with  a  cap  of  many  colors, 
others  habited  in  coats  as  variegated,  like  Jo- 

4 


Youthful  Experiences 

seph's  of  old — some  laid  up  with  broken  heads 
and  black  eyes.  During  noon,  in  place  of  the 
usual  games  of  amusement,  lie  has  the  boys 
employed  in  throwing  up  redoubts,  skirmish 
ing,  etc.  I  must  be  candid  with  you,  brother 
Isaac — unless  Anthony  pays  more  attention 
to  his  books,  I  shall  be  under  the  painful 
necessity  of  dismissing  him  from  the  school." 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1759  that  this  let 
ter  was  written.  The  boy's  natural  talent 
for  deeds  of  war  had  been  cultivated  by  the 
stirring  tales  of  Braddock's  defeat,  and  the 
French  raids,  and  the  colonial  acts  of  resist 
ance,  until  he  made  himself  the  leader  of  the 
boys  at  the  school,  and  tried  to  make  soldiers 
of  them. 

After  the  letter  was  read  at  home  young 
iWayne  showed  one  other  mark  of  the  good 
soldier — a  ready  subordination  to  authority. 
His  father  ordered  him  to  return  to  school 
and  devote  himself  to  his  studies,  instead  of 
to  mimic  war,  and  he  did  it.  "He  persevered 
so  effectually  that  at  the  end  of  eighteen 
months,  his  uncle  acknowledged  that  he  could 
instruct  him  no  further." 

Accordingly,  on  the  recommendations  of 
his  uncle,  Anthony  was  sent  to  the  academy  in 
Philadelphia,  where  he  remained  two  years. 

5 


Anthony  Wayne 


"His  attachment  to  mathematical  science  was 
so  ardent,  and  his  zeal  to  reach  its  summit  so 
great,  that  the  united  solicitations  of  his 
friends  and  tutors  could  not  prevail  on  him 
to  devote  more  time  to  the  dead  languages  than 
what  was  merely  sufficient  for  the  acquire 
ment  of  their  rudiments."  But  when,  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  he  left  school,  he  had  thor 
oughly  fitted  himself  for  the  career  of  a  sur 
veyor. 

The  school  experiences  of  Wayne  afford  a 
notable  parallel  to  those  of  Washington. 
England  was  at  war  with  Spain  while  Wash 
ington  was  attending  Hobby's  school,  and  the 
tales  which  the  lad  heard  about  the  deeds  of 
Admiral  Vernon  and  General  Wentworth  in 
the  West  Indies  (with  whom  Laurence  Wash 
ington,  the  half-brother  of  George,  was  serv 
ing)  led  him  to  "make  soldiers  of  his  school 
mates."  "All  his  amusements  took  a  military 
turn,"  and  "they  had  mimic  parades,  reviews, 
and  sham  fights,"  according  to  Irving,  though 
it  does  not  appear  that  there  were  any  black 
eyes  or  broken  heads  in  young  Washington's 
battles. 

Then,  when  Washington  left  Hobby's  care 
for  that  of  Williams,  "he  never  attempted  to 
learn  the  languages,  but  in  land  surveying  " 

6 


Youthful  Experiences 

he  "schooled  himself  thoroughly."  So  says 
Irving. 

The  parallel  in  the  lives  of  these  men,  who 
were  to  be  so  usefully  connected  in  later 
years,  extends  somewhat  beyond  their  school 
days.  Washington  became  acquainted  with 
Lord  Fairfax,  who  was  then  the  great  man  of 
Virginia.  Fairfax  saw  the  inherent  worth 
of  the  youth,  and  employed  him  in  surveying 
the  wide  Fairfax  domain  in  the  beautiful 
Shenandoah  Valley.  Wayne,  in  some  way  not 
recorded,  became  acquainted  with  Franklin, 
who  was  then  the  great  man  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  was  employed  by  him  in  a  still  more  im 
portant  trust  than  that  which  Fairfax  con 
fided  to  Washington. 

On  leaving  school,  Wayne  used  his  com 
pass  and  chain  in  the  wilds  of  Pennsylvania, 
giving  his  spare  time  meanwhile  to  the  study 
of  civil  engineering  and  astronomy.  It  was  a 
life  well  suited  to  the  taste  of  the  youth,  for 
the  work  took  him  into  the  wilderness,  where 
the  days  were  passed  in  running  lines  over 
mountains  and  across  valleys  and  gorges, 
while  at  night  he  slept  by  an  open  fire.  There 
were  dangers  enough  to  excite  his  love  of  ad 
venture,  including,  indeed,  the  danger  of  an 
encounter  with  stray  Indians  looking  for  pri- 

7 


Anthony  Wayne 


vate  revenge  'for  old  injuries.  It  was  while 
thus  employed  that  he  attracted  the  attention 
of  Franklin. 

Franklin,  after  the  French  power  was  de 
stroyed  in  Canada,  organized  an  association 
(1764)  "for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  and 
settling  a  large  body  of  land  in  the  Province 
of  Nova  Scotia."  His  company  included 
"many  wealthy  and  distinguished  characters," 
all  of  whom,  however,  were  speculators,  as 
Franklin  was,  and  not  desirous  of  going  to 
Nova  Scotia  on  any  account.  A  man  was 
needed  to  take  entire  charge  of  the  emigrants 
who  were  to  be  sent  there — help  them  select 
their  lands,  survey  out  plots  for  them,  make 
and  enforce  contracts,  and  in  every  way  pro 
mote  the  interests  of  the  settlers  and  the  com 
pany.  It  is  certain  that  no  boy  twenty  years 
old  would  be  selected  for  such  a  task  in  the 
twentieth  century,  but  in  1765  Franklin  se 
lected  Anthony  Wayne  for  it. 

Wayne  left  Philadelphia  in  the  month  of 
March,  with  a  company  of  settlers,  and  on 
reaching  Nova  Scotia,  he  selected  a  tract  of 
100,000  acres  on  the  St.  John's  Kiver,  and 
another  of  equal  extent  on  the  Piticoodzack. 
The  records  of  the  Crown  Land  Office  at  Que 
bec  show  that  warrants  for  the  tracts  were 

8 


Youthful  Experiences 

issued  to  Wayne,  in  the  name  of  the  com 
pany,  on  October  31,  1765  (Stille).  It  is 
apparent  that  Wayne  must  have  surveyed 
these  tracts  during  the  warm  season,  besides 
attending  to  his  other  duties.  What  these 
other  duties  were  appears  in  part  from  the 
instructions  given  him.  He  was  to  ascertain 
(says  Stille)  whether  "the  land  proposed  to 
be  bought  and  settled  upon  was,  1.  Good  & 
supplied  with  navigable  waters.  2.  To  ob 
serve  where  were  the  heads  of  navigation  in 
the  Eivers,  that  is,  the  tide.  3.  Convenient 
places  for  ferries.  4.  Passes  through  the 
mountains.  5.  Iron  ore  &  cole  mines.  6. 
Mill  seats  &  other  waterworks.  7.  Places 
where  the  roads  meet.  8.  Beaches  or  islands 
with  black  sand  washed  up.  9.  Mast  lands 
or  pure  swamps.  10.  Lime  stone  or  other 
stones.  11.  Meadow  lands  and  marsh.  12. 
Large  springs  or  any  mineral  springs." 

Wayne  did  these  things  while  managing 
his  company  of  settlers  (some  of  whom  were 
doubtless  homesick  and  discontented)  and 
surveying  the  lands  in  an  absolute  wilderness. 
In  December  he  returned  to  Philadelphia  with 
his  report,  and  the  report  was  to  the  entire 
satisfaction  of  the  company.  He  was  contin 
ued  in  the  post  of  resident  manager  and  re- 
2  9 


Anthony  Wayne 


turned  to  Nova  Scotia  in  the  following  sea 
son,  where  he  continued  his  work  with  entire 
success.  But  when  the  second  year's  work 
had  been  completed  "the  menacing  character 
of  the  controversy  between  Great  Britain  and 
her  Colonies  put  an  end  to  the  enterprise  " 
(Sparks). 

Before  telling  what  Wayne  did  after  the 
impending  political  troubles  put  an  end  to  fhe 
Nova  Scotia  enterprise,  it  is  worth  while  to 
consider,  for  a  moment,  the  facts,  so  far  as 
known,  of  Wayne's  ancestry. 

The  story  of  Anthony  Wayne's  ancestors 
begins  with  his  grandfather,  who  was  a  na 
tive  of  Yorkshire,  England,  and  also  bore  the 
name  of  Anthony.  When  still  a  young  man 
this  grandfather  moved  to  the  County  Wick- 
low,  Ireland,  where  he  was  engaged  in  farm 
ing.  But  being  a  man  of  means  and  influ 
ence,  "he  occasionally  executed  some  civil  as 
well  as  military  offices."  As  a  Protestant  he 
joined  the  forces  of  William  of  Orange,  under 
whom  he  commanded  a  troop  of  dragoons  at 
the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  "and  he  greatly  dis 
tinguished  himself  by  gallantry  in  that  de 
cisive  battle  "  (Stille).  One  likes  to  note  that 
the  Wayne  of  Stony  Point  came  of  good  fight 
ing  stock. 

10 


Youthful  Experiences 

In  1722  the  grandfather  came  to  Philadel 
phia,  and  after  two  years  spent,  presumably, 
in  examining  the  country,  he  purchased 
1,600  acres  of  land  in  Chester  County,  Penn 
sylvania.  His  family,  at  this  time,  con 
sisted  of  his  wife  and  four  sons,  the  youngest 
of  whom  was  named  Isaac.  These  sons  were 
established  on  the  estate  as  farmers. 

At  the  death  of  the  grandfather  Isaac  in 
herited  a  plot  of  500  acres,  within  two  miles 
of  the  village  of  Paoli,  and  it  was  on  this  farm 
that  Anthony  Wayne,  the  subject  of  this 
memoir,  was  born.  It  is  recorded  that  Isaac 
Wayne  was  a  man  of  "great  industry  and 
enterprise,"  and  that  his  wife  was  a  woman 
of  great  "force  of  character." 

Isaac  "frequently  represented  the  county 
of  Chester  in  the  provincial  legislature,"  and 
as  a  militia  officer  "repeatedly  distinguished 
himself  in  expeditions  against  the  Indians." 
He  was  celebrated  as  a  patriotic  Pennsylva- 
nian.  He  died  in  1774,  leaving  one  son — An 
thony — and  two  daughters. 

When,  in  1767,  young  Anthony's  work  in 
Nova  Scotia  came  to  an  end  because  of  the 
ominous  character  of  the  political  outlook,  he 
married  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Bartholomew 
Penrose,  a  prominent  Philadelphia  merchant, 

11 


Anthony  Wayne 


and  took  her  to  his  father's  estate  at  Waynes- 
borough,  in  Chester  County.  Here  he  estab 
lished  a  tannery  and  devoted  himself  to  the 
management  of  it  and  the  family  estate. 

Wayne's  work  in  Nova  Scotia  had  en 
larged  his  capacities  and  cultivated  his  abili 
ties.  It  had  been  an  experience  in  leadership 
that  was  especially  valuable,  and  it  had 
broadened  his  views  of  the  world. 

Naturally  in  his  new  home  life,  wherein 
he  was  a  manager  of  business  operations  and 
a  leader  of  workmen,  he  still  further  culti 
vated  the  abilities  that  had  given  him  suc 
cess  in  Nova  Scotia.  Moreover,  he  was 
elected  by  the  people  of  the  county  to  various 
local  offices,  and  this  not  only  strengthened 
his  faculties  as  a  leader  of  men,  but  it  gave 
him  opportunity  to  learn  something — perhaps 
much — of  the  character  of  the  American  sys 
tem  of  government  that  was  then  developing. 
It  also  gave  him  opportunity  to  strengthen 
that  good-will  among  the  people  of  his  coun 
ty  (and  of  Philadelphia  as  well),  which  his 
previous  work  had  created. 

In  short,  from  the  days  when  the  stories 
of  the  war  with  the  French  and  Indians  in 
cited  him  to  organize  his  schoolmates  for 
sham  battles,  wherein  some  got  black  eyes  and 
12 


Youthful  Experiences 

broken  heads,  down  to  the  year  1774,  when  the 
death  of  his  father  threw  him  wholly  upon  his 
own  resources,  the  life  of  Anthony  Wayne 
was  admirably  adapted  to  fit  him  for  leader 
ship  among  men  of  affairs. 

The  "controversy  between  Great  Britain 
and  her  Colonies/'  in  compelling  him  to  aban 
don  the  work  of  promoting  the  settlement  of 
the  Nova  Scotia  wilderness,  had  seemed  to 
cut  him  off  from  a  great  opportunity  for  use 
ful  labor,  but  now  that  "controversy  "  was  to 
open  for  him  a  career  wherein  he  was  to  use 
with  all  his  might,  not  only  every  natural  ca 
pacity  and  faculty  he  possessed,  but  all  that 
he  had  been  able  to  acquire  through  his  un 
usual  experiences.  At  the  death  of  his  father, 
in  1774,  the  work  of  Anthony  Wayne  in  the 
American  Revolution  was  already  begun. 


13 


CHAPTER   II 

AS   A    CITIZEN    OF   THE    COLONY    OF    PENNSYL 
VANIA 

OF  the  life  of  Anthony  Wayne  during  the 
stirring  times  immediately  preceding  the  War 
of  the  Revolution  we  have  many  glimpses  in 
the  public  documents  that  remain,  if  no  com 
plete  account.  Thus  we  find  that  when  the 
Pennsylvania  Assembly  met  in  Philadelphia 
on  October  14,  1774,  Wayne  was  one  of  the 
"Representatives  of  the  freemen  "  of  Chester 
County.  The  first  thing  done  in  this  Assem 
bly,  after  the  usual  formalities  of  organiza 
tion,  was  to  add  John  Dickinson  "to  the  com 
mittee  of  deputies  appointed  ...  to  attend 
the  General  Congress  now  sitting  in  the  City 
of  Philadelphia  on  American  Grievances." 
The  next  thing  done  was  to  resolve  "  That  this 
House  will  provide  an  Entertainment  to  be 
given  on  Thursday  next,"  to  the  members  of 
this  Congress,  and  it  was  ordered  that  eight 
members,  of  whom  Wayne  was  one,  "be  a 
committee  to  provide  and  superintend  the  said 
Entertainment." 

14 


As  a  Citizen  of  Pennsylvania 

Wayne  and  his  neighbors,  including  the 
Quakers,  who,  from  principle,  would  not 
fight,  were  firm  in  their  opposition  to  the  ag 
gressions  of  the  British  ministry,  and  it  was 
natural  to  expect  the  pugnacious  schoolboy 
whose  sham  battles  had  given  the  combatants 
black  eyes  and  broken  heads  would  develop 
into  a  man  who  would  be  earnest  in  defending 
the  natural  rights  of  himself  and  his  country 
men. 

When  the  British  ministry  had  deter 
mined  to  send  the  tea  to  the  American  colonies 
in  spite  of  the  resolutions  which  the  colonists 
had  taken  in  refusing  to  buy  it,  several  of 
the  tea  fleet,  including  the  ship  Polly,  Captain 
Ayres,  were  headed  for  Philadelphia.  On 
learning  this  the  Philadelphians  held  a  public 
meeting  at  the  State-House  on  October  17, 
1773.  At  this  meeting  a  committee  was  ap 
pointed  to  "request"  the  agents  of  the  tea 
company  to  resign.  This  committee  duly  rep 
resented  to  the  agents  "the  detestation  and 
abhorrence  "  which  any  attempt  to  sell  tea 
would  cause,  and  also  "the  danger  and  difficul 
ties  which  must  attend  so  odious  a  trust,"  with 
the  result  that  the  agents  resigned  their  com 
missions. 

On  December  25th  the  Polly  reached  Ches- 
15 


Anthony  Wayne 


ter  and  was  promptly  reported  to  the  people 
of  Philadelphia.  A  committee  of  citizens 
rode  down  the  river-bank,  and  at  two  o'clock 
next  day  hailed  the  Polly,  when  off  Gloucester 
Point,  and  requested  Captain  Ayres  to  anchor 
and  come  ashore,  which,  on  seeing  the  great 
throng  gathered  and  the  manifest  earnestness 
of  the  people,  he  did. 

The  committee  represented  to  him  "the 
danger  and  difficulties  "  that  would  attend  any 
attempt  to  land  the  tea,  and  then  took  him  to 
town  to  attend  a  public  meeting  wherein  the 
number  of  people  gathered  was  so  great  that 
the  State-House  could  not  hold  them,  and  they 
"adjourned  into  the  square."  Here  the  fol 
lowing  resolutions  were  not  only  agreed  to, 
but  the  public  approbation  was  testified  in  the 
warmest  manner.  (Principles  and  Acts  of 
Kevolution,  p.  171.) 

That  the  tea  on  board  the  ship  Polly  shall  not 
"be,  landed. 

That  the  captain  shall  be  allowed  to  stay  in 
town  till  to-morrow  to  provide  necessaries  for  his 
voyage. 

That  he  shall  then  ~be  obliged  to  leave  the  town  and 
proceed  to  his  vessel,  and  make  the  best  of  his  way 
out  of  our  river  and  bay. 

The  attitude  and  enthusiasm  of  the  people 
16 


As  a  Citizen  of  Pennsylvania 

P 

at  the  mass  meeting,  together  with  the  vigi 
lance  and  determination  of  the  "committee  of 
four  gentlemen,"  awed  Captain  Ayres  into 
leaving  Delaware  Bay  and  carrying  the  tea 
back  to  England.  Destroying  the  tea  was  not 
necessary  at  Philadelphia,  but  that  it  would 
have  been  destroyed  had  an  effort  been  made 
to  land  it  is  evident  from  the  following  ex 
tract  from  the  report  of  the  public  meeting 
where  Captain  Ayres  was  present: 

The  assembly  were  then  informed  of  the  spirit 
and  resolution  of  New  York,  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  and  the  conduct  of  the  people  of  Boston, 
whereupon  it  was  unanimously  resolved — 

That  this  assembly  highly  approve  of  the  conduct 
and  spirit  of  the  people  of  New  York,  Charleston  and 
Boston,  and  return  their  hearty  thanks  to  the  people  of 
Boston  for  their  resolution  in  destroying  the  tea,  rather 
than  suffering  it  to  be  landed. 

There  is  no  record  that  Wayne  was  pres 
ent  at  any  of  these  proceedings,  but  it  is  likely 
enough  that  he  had  part  in  that  eventful  pub 
lic  meeting,  and  it  is  certain  that  he  approved 
all  that  was  done  there.  For  not  only  was  he 
forward  in  doing  public  honor  to  the  first 
Continental  Congress  that  assembled  at 
Philadelphia  (September  5,  1774),  but  when 

17 


Anthony  Wayne 


a  meeting  of  the  people  of  Chester  County 
was  held  "at  the  Court  House  in  the  Borough 
of  Chester  "  (December  20,  1774),  to  choose  a 
committee  "to  carry  into  execution  the  Asso 
ciation  of  the  late  Continental  Congress," 
Anthony  Wayne  was  the  first  man  selected 
for  that  committee,  and  his  associates  elected 
him  chairman. 

Of  the  work  of  Anthony  Wayne  as  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Colonial  Assembly  at  this  time  I 
have  found  one  more  fact  memorable  here. 
When  it  was  moved  (March  4,  1775)  that 
"the  Doors  be  opened  and  the  reputable  in 
habitants  admitted  to  hear  the  debates,"  the 
motion  was  lost,  but  Wayne  was  one  of  the 
fearless  minority  who  were  willing  to  express 
their  opinions  freely  in  public. 

After  the  assault  of  the  British  troops 
upon  the  minutemen  at  Lexington,  Mass. 
(April  19, 1775),  the  Chester  County  Commit 
tee  of  Safety  held  a  meeting  (May  15),  at 
which  it  was  unanimously  resolved  that  it  was 
the  "indispensable  duty  of  all  the  freemen 
of "  Chester  County  "immediately  to  form 
and  enter  into  associations  for  the  purpose  of 
learning  tlie  military  art."  "And  we  solemnly 
engage  to  promote  such  associations  to  the 
utmost  of  our  power." 
18 


As  a  Citizen  of  Pennsylvania 

Wayne  had  very  clear  ideas  of  his  duties 
as  a  patriot  at  this  time,  and  others  equally 
clear  on  the  practical  work  to  be  done;  for 
the  committee  resolved  that  "no  powder  be  ex 
pended  in  this  county,"  except  as  directed  by 
the  committee.  And  it  was  further  resolved 
that  the  committee  meet  "to  consult,  the  Jus 
tices,  Grand  Jury,  and  Board  of  Commission 
ers  and  Assessors  on  ways  and  means  to  pro 
cure  a  proper  quantity  of  Arms  and  Ainuni- 
tion  for  use  of  this  county." 

Wayne  was  fully  convinced  that  the  colo 
nies  would  all  be  involved  in  war,  and  he 
began  to  study  every  book  on  military  tactics 
and  the  art  of  war  that  he  could  obtain. 
Every  history  that  gave  a  description  of  bat 
tles  was  as  eagerly  read  as  text-books  for  a 
military  academy  would  have  been,  if  within 
his  reach.  Marshal  Saxe's  Campaigns  was 
his  favorite  work,  as  his  letters  show. 

Further  than  that,  Wayne  put  in  practise 
as  well  as  he  could  all  that  he  learned  about 
the  manual  of  arms  and  the  maneuvering  of 
troops.  "Every  day  which  he  could  spare 
from  other  public  duties,  he  devoted  to  per 
forming  the  service  of  drill  officer,  and  in 
fusing  into  the  minds  of  his  fellow  citizens  a 
knowledge  of  military  science."  He  was  a 

19 


Anthony  Wayne 


man  of  whom  Carlyle  might  have  said  that  he 
fully  understood  that  "the  All  of  Things  is 
an  infinite  conjugation  of  the  verb  To  Do." 
"His  growing  popularity  brought  to  his 
standard  large  assemblages  of  the  youths  of 
Chester  County  wherever  he  appointed  a 
drill,  and  the  confidence  which  they  reposed  in 
his  skill  and  intrepidity  was  an  earnest  of  the 
most  prompt  and  strict  attention  to  his  or 
ders  should  the  occasion  come  "  for  giving  or 
ders  in  time  of  battle. 

In  those  days — the  summer  of  1775 — the 
activity  of  the  patriotic  Pennsylvanians  was 
so  great  that  John  Adams,  on  observing  it, 
wrote  from  Philadelphia  that  one  "would 
burst  to  see  whole  companies  of  armed  Qua 
kers  in  that  city,  in  uniforms,  going  through 
the  manual." 

And  yet  these  men  sincerely  deprecated 
the  idea  (which  their  enemies  advanced)  that 
they  were  seeking  the  independence  of  the  col 
onies.  On  September  25,  1775,  the  Chester 
County  Committee  declared  by  unanimous 
vote  "their  abhorrence  even  of  an  idea  so  per 
nicious  in  its  nature,  as  they  ardently  wish 
for  nothing  more  than  a  happy  and  speedy 
reconciliation  on  constitutional  principles." 

From  the  head  of  the  Chester  County 
20 


As  a  Citizen  of  Pennsylvania 

Committee  Wayne  was  promoted  to  a  place  on 
the  Colonial  Committee  of  Safety,  by  the 
resolution  of  the  Provincial  Assembly  on 
June  30,  1775.  There  were  25  men  in  this 
Colonial  Committee,  and  among  them  were 
Benjamin  Franklin,  John  Dickinson,  and 
Kobert  Morris.  One  notes  (see  Force's 
Archives)  that  the  resolution  places  the  word 
"Gentlemen  "  at  the  end  of  the  list  of  names. 

On  this  day  the  Assembly  also  urged  each 
county  to  provide  "good  new  Firelocks,  with 
Bayonets  fitted  to  them  "—in  all  4,500  for  the 
province — and  the  fact  that  bayonets  were 
mentioned  is  presumptive  evidence  that 
Wayne  had  a  hand  in  wording  the  resolution. 
Moreover,  the  Assembly  urged  that  enough 
minutemen  be  enlisted  to  use  the  firelocks, 
and  that  ammunition  be  provided  for  them. 
The  Assembly  also  voted  to  pay  £20  for  every 
hundredweight  of  saltpeter  that  any  one 
would  manufacture  in  the  province,  and  au 
thorized  the  issue  of  bills  of  credit  to  the 
value  of  £25,000. 

Of  the  work  of  the  Provincial  Committee 
of  Safety,  it  is  worth  noting  that  at  the  first 
meeting  it  resolved  that  the  barrels  of  the 
muskets  to  be  carried  by  the  Pennsylvania 
soldiers  should  "be  three  feet  eight  inches  in 
21 


Anthony  Wayne 


length,  well  fortified,  the  bore  of  sufficient 
size  to  carry  seventeen  balls  to  the  pound." 

Thereafter  committees  were  appointed  to 
look  after  the  collection  of  military  supplies. 
Doctor  Franklin  was  "requested  to  procure 
the  model  of  a  Pike."  The  construction  of  a 
provincial  navy  to  defend  the  river  received 
careful  attention.  Wayne  had  an  active  hand 
in  providing  men  for  the  crews  of  these  boats, 
and  in  connection  with  this  work  we  find  in 
the  minutes  of  the  proceedings  for  July  15, 
1775,  that  he  was  officially  mentioned  as 
Colonel  Wayne. 

On  August  3d  Wayne  was  appointed  one 
of  a  subcommittee  to  write  the  rules  and  regu 
lations  for  the  government  of  the  militia  and 
naval  forces  of  the  province.  But  to  avoid 
details  that  might  prove  wearisome  it  may  be 
said  that  Wayne  was  a  most  active  member 
of  this  committee,  and  he  had  a  personal  part 
in  the  most  important  work  done  until  the  7th 
of  February,  1776. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  Congress,  in 
preparing  to  resist  the  invading  British,  had 
requested  (October  12,  1775)  Pennsylvania 
to  raise  a  battalion  of  infantry,  at  the  expense 
of  the  continent,  to  consist  of  8  companies, 
each  of  which  was  to  have  68  privates,  with  1 
22 


As  a  Citizen  of  Pennsylvania 

captain,  1  lieutenant,  and  1  ensign,  besides  8 
non-commissioned  officers.  On  December  9th. 
Congress  ordered  that  four  more  battalions  of 
the  same  size  be  raised  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
it  was  resolved  that  the  Pennsylvania  Com 
mittee  of  Safety  be  asked  to  choose  "a  num 
ber  of  gentlemen,  to  be  recommended  to  the 
Congress  as  proper  persons  to  be  appointed 
colonels  "  of  the  four  battalions. 

Accordingly,  on  January  3d,  a  meeting  of 
the  committee  was  held,  with  24  members 
present  and  Franklin  in  the  chair.  It  appears 
that  they  began  with  the  Fourth  Battalion, 
for  which  Wayne  was  unanimously  recom 
mended  by  his  associates  on  the  committee. 
John  Shee  then  received  23  votes  for  colonel 
of  the  Third,  Arthur  St.  Clair  23  for  colonel 
of  the  Second,  and  Robert  Magan  20  for  colo 
nel  of  the  First. 

On  the  same  day  the  Congress  confirmed 
the  choice  thus  made,  and  the  commission  of 
Anthony  Wayne  as  a  colonel  in  the  Conti 
nental  service  bore  that  date. 


23 


CHAPTER   III 

IN   THE   EARLY   DAYS   OF   THE   WAR 

ANTHONY  WAYNE  was  just  thirty  years 
old  when  he  was  made  commander  of  the 
Fourth  Pennsylvania  Battalion.  He  was 
above  the  average  in  height — "a  handsome 
manly  figure  "  —with  dark  waving  hair,  deep 
hazel  eyes,  and  a  frank  and  animated  expres 
sion  of  the  face  that  was  wonderfully  attract 
ive.  How  far  his  looks  depicted  his  character 
shall  appear  in  the  course  of  this  memoir,  but 
it  may  be  observed  here  that  he  was  fastidious 
in  his  dress  to  a  point  that  eventually  gave 
him  the  name  of  "  Dandy  "  Wayne.  And  be 
cause  this  peculiarity  of  his  character  was 
manifested  in  notable  fashion  at  one  of  the 
most  interesting  events  of  his  career,  it  seems 
worth  while  to  say  something  more  about  it 
here.  It  is  certain,  first  of  all,  that  he  was 
quite  as  anxious  to  have  his  men  elegantly 
clothed  as  he  was  to  wear  a  fine  uniform  him 
self.  Stille  speaks  of  Wayne's  "apparent 
anxiety  for  the  military  appearance  of  "  his 
men  as  a  "little  piece  of  pardonable  vanity," 

24 


In  the  Early  Days  of  the  War 

and  adds  that  it  seems  "  amusing  enough  when 
we  recall  the  rough  hard  work  which  his  regi 
ment  had  to  do."  But  the  fact  is  that  the  de 
sire  for  clothes  for  himself  and  men  did  not  by 
any  means  rest  on  vanity.  The  matter  was  the 
subject  of  correspondence  between  Wayne 
and  Washington.  In  a  letter  dated  July  8, 
1779  (when  the  assault  on  Stony  Point  was 
near  at  hand),  Wayne  wrote  to  Washington 
to  call  attention  to  the  "difficulty  that  the  light 
corps  experience  in  receiving  the  necessary 
supplies  of  clothing,"  and  suggests  a  plan  for 
procuring  what  was  desirable.  He  then  says 
that  with  the  clothing  thus  to  be  procured  "I 
flatter  myself  that  we  shall  have  it  in  our 
power  to  introduce  uniformity  among  the 
light  corps  belonging  to  the  respective  states, 
and  infuse  a  laudable  pride  and  emulation  into 
the  whole,  which,  in  a  soldier,  are  a  substitute 
for  almost  every  other  virtue. 

"I  must  acknowledge  that  I  have  an  in 
superable  bias  in  favor  of  an  elegant  uniform 
and  soldierly  appearance ;  so  much  so,  that  I 
would  rather  risk  my  life  and  reputation  at 
the  head  of  the  same  men  in  an  attack,  clothed 
and  appointed  as  I  could  wish,  merely  with 
bayonets  and  a  single  charge  of  ammunition, 
than  to  take  them  as  they  appear  in  common, 
3  25 


Anthony  Wayne 


with  sixty  rounds  of  cartridges.  It  may  be  a 
false  idea,  but  I  cannot  help  cherishing  it." 

And  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  Washing 
ton  replied  to  this:  "/  agree  perfectly  tcith  you 
as  to  the  importance  of  dress." 

Of  the  men  Wayne  first  commanded  we 
have  a  few  glimpses  worth  reproducing. 
Bloodgood,  the  author  of  the  Sexagenary, 
when  a  boy  of  twelve  years,  was  employed  as 
a  teamster  to  haul  supplies  from  Albany  to 
the  American  forces  in  Canada  during  the 
winter  of  1775-76,  and  the  First  Pennsylvania 
Battalion  overhauled  his  convoy  on  the  road 
to  Lake  Champlain.  Bloodgood  writes : 

They  were  the  most  quarrelsome,  and  I  regret 
to  say,  profligate  set  of  men  I  had  ever  seen  to 
gether.  They  had  plenty  of  money  with  them,  and 
spent  it  profusely.  The  vices  of  insubordination, 
gambling  and  rioting,  marked  their  battalia,  and 
we  ourselves  had  great  trouble  with  them. 

After  making  due  allowance  for  the  prej 
udices  of  the  boy  "who  had  great  trouble  with 
them,"  it  seems  likely  that  this  is  not  an  un 
fair  portrayal  of  Wayne's  men  as  well  as 
those  of  the  First  Battalion.  They  were  bois 
terous  on  their  way  to  Canada — had  fist  fights 
not  a  few  among  themselves,  doubtless — and 
26 


In  the  Early  Days  of  the  War 

it  is  certain  that  they  were  not  overtender  of 
the  feelings  of  teamsters  along  the  way. 

Kemembering  that  all  the  colonies  lying 
southwest  of  the  Delaware  Eiver  were  called 
"southern,"  the  following  from  Thatcher's 
Journal  is  of  interest : 

Since  the  troops  from  the  Southern  states  have 
been  associated  in  military  duty  with  those  from 
New  England,  a  strong  prejudice  has  assumed  its 
unhappy  influence,  and  drawn  a  line  of  distinction 
between  them.  Many  of  the  officers  from  the  South 
are  gentlemen  of  education,  and  unaccustomed  to 
that  equality  which  prevails  in  New  England.  .  .  . 
Hence  we  too  frequently  hear  the  burlesque  epi 
thet  of  Yankee  from  one  party  and  that  of  Buck 
skin,  by  way  of  retort,  from  the  other. 

Under  date  of  December  26,  1777  (when 
Wayne  was  in  command  at  Ticonderoga), 
Thatcher  writes  this : 

A  singular  kind  of  riot  took  place  in  our  bar 
racks  last  evening.  Colonel  A.  W.,  of  Massachu 
setts,  made  choice  of  his  two  sons,  who  were  soldiers 
in  his  regiment,  to  discharge  the  menial  duties  of 
waiters,  and  one  of  them  having  been  brought  up  a 
shoemaker,  the  Colonel  was  so  inconsiderate  as  to 
allow  him  to  work  on  his  bench  in  the  same  room 
with  himself.  This  ridiculous  conduct  has  for 

27 


Anthony  Wayne 


some  time  drawn  on  the  good  old  man  the  con 
temptuous  sneers  of  the  gentlemen  officers,  espe 
cially  those  from  Pennsylvania.  Lieutenant- Colo 
nel  C.,  of  Wayne's  regiment,  being  warmed  with 
wine,  took  on  himself  the  task  of  reprehending  the 
"  Yankee  "  Colonel  for  thus  degrading  his  rank. 
With  this  view  he  rushed  into  the  room  in  the  even 
ing  and  soon  despatched  the  shoemaker's  bench, 
after  which  he  made  an  assault  upon  the  Colonel's 
person,  and  bruised  him  severely.  The  noise  and 
confusion  soon  collected  a  number  of  officers  and 
soldiers,  and  it  was  a  considerable  time  before  the 
rioters  could  be  quelled.  Some  of  the  soldiers  of 
Colonel  Wayne's  regiment  actually  took  to  their 
arms  and  dared  the  Yankees,  and  then  proceeded 
to  the  extremity  of  firing  their  guns.  About  thirty 
or  forty  rounds  were  aimed  at  the  soldiers  of  our 
regiment,  who  were  driven  from  their  barracks,  and 
several  of  them  were  severely  wounded.  ...  As 
if  to  complete  the  disgrace  of  the  transaction, 
Colonel  C.  sent  some  soldiers  into  the  woods  to 
shoot  a  fat  deer,  with  which  he  made  an  entertain 
ment,  and  invited  Colonel  W.  and  his  officers  to 
partake  of  it;  this  effected  a  reconciliation. 

Elsewhere  Thatcher  describes  the  Penn- 
sylvanians  as  "remarkably  stout  and  hardy 
men,  many  of  them  exceeding  six  feet  in 
height.  They  are  dressed  in  white  frocks  or 
rifle  shirts,  and  round  hats."  He  adds  that 
28 


In  the  Early  Days  of  the  War 

they  were  remarkable  for  the  accuracy  of 
their  aim,  "striking  a  mark  with  great  cer 
tainty  at  two  hundred  yards  distance."  It 
should  be  observed,  however,  that  only  a  few 
of  the  Pennsylvanians  were  experts  with  their 
rifles.  These  were  quick  to  exhibit  their  skill, 
and  thus  all  the  others  came  to  be  regarded  as 
experts. 

For  some  weeks  after  receiving  his  com 
mission  (January  3,  1776),  Wayne  was  em 
ployed  in  training  his  men  and  teaching  them 
the  value  of  discipline.  That  he  had  a  long 
time  task  in  hand  is  apparent  from  what  has 
already  been  noted  about  their  conduct  in  gar 
rison.  The  sturdy  American  spirit,  even  in 
a  colony  like  Pennsylvania,  where  class  dis 
tinctions  were  recognized  to  some  extent,  did 
not  take  kindly  to  the  necessary  subordina 
tion  of  an  army.  It  is  recorded  that  Wayne 
had  to  flog  six  of  his  men  for  desertion  dur 
ing  the  early  training  days. 

On  February  20,  1776,  Congress  ordered 
Wayne  to  march  with  his  battalion  to  New 
York,  and  two  days  later  orders  were  issued 
"to  quicken  Colonel  Wayne  in  getting  his  bat 
talion  ready ;  and  that  as  fast  as  he  can  get  a 
company  properly  equipped  he  cause  it  im 
mediately  to  march  to  New  York." 
29 


Anthony  Wayne 


It  appears  that  Wayne  was  doing  his  work 
of  drilling  the  men  thoroughly,  and  that  it 
was  only  on  the  positive  order  of  Congress 
that  he  sent  away  his  battalion  piecemeal.  It 
appears  also  that  muskets  were  not  to  be  had, 
and  Wayne  was  loath  to  send  forward  un 
armed  men.  There  were  three  companies  in 
the  first  detachment,  and  they  appeared  in  the 
"  General  Eeturn  "  of  the  10,235  men  under 
Washington  at  New  York  on  April  28th.  The 
remainder  went  forward  later,  and  eventually 
Wayne  himself,  with  three  companies  only, 
was  sent  from  New  York  to  Canada. 

For  in  the  meantime  (May,  1775),  patriots 
in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  had  turned 
their  thoughts  toward  Lake  Champlain,  "the 
Northern  Gateway."  Ticonderoga  and  Crown 
Point  were  captured  and  held,  and  on  June 
27th  Congress  ordered  General  Philip  Schuy- 
ler  "immediately  to  take  possession  of  St. 
Johns  and  Montreal." 

The  disastrous  assault  upon  Quebec  (De 
cember  31,  1775)  and  the  long  and  painful, 
but  most  glorious  siege  of  the  city  (January 
to  May,  1776),  followed. 

Few  more  remarkable  stories  of  war  can 
be  found  than  that  of  this  siege  of  Quebec. 
For  the  besieging  forces  numbered  less  than 
30 


In  the  Early  Days  of  the  War 

800  at  best.  There  were  dissensions  of  a 
character  that  bordered  on  mutiny  among 
them.  They  were  not  well  clothed.  They 
were  living  in  tents  in  the  midst  of  Canadian 
winter  storms.  They  had  no  cannon  suitable 
for  battering  the  city  walls,  and  the  supply 
of  ammunition  was  scant. 

Smallpox  became  epidemic  in  the  camp  in 
February,  and  the  effective  force  was  reduced 
to  less  than  500  men.  And  yet  by  their 
unconquerable  spirit  and  energy  they  held 
Carleton  and  1,800  well-provided  men  close 
prisoners.  And  it  was  only  because  they  had 
been  absolutely  destitute  of  gold  throughout 
the  campaign  that  they  failed  at  last. 

The  experiences  in  Canada  were  worth 
gaining  (if  only  the  lessons  might  never  be 
forgotten!).  And  among  those  who  went 
there  and  gained  knowledge  from  experience 
was  Anthony  Wayne. 


31 


CHAPTER   IV 
WAYNE'S  FIRST  BATTLE 

As  it  happened,  Wayne  reached  Canada 
too  late  to  have  any  part  in  the  siege  of  Que 
bec. 

On  the  morning  of  May  5th  General  John 
Thomas,  who  had  come  to  command  the  be 
sieging  force,  "had  certain  intelligence  that 
a  [British]  fleet  was  coming  up  the  river  " 
and  was  near  by.  Not  more  than  150  pounds 
of  powder  remained  in  the  magazines,  and 
there  was  on  hand  food  for  but  three  days. 
A  retreat  was  at  last  inevitable. 

The  retreat  began  early  the  next  day.  As 
Thomas  was  placing  his  sick  on  the  bateaux 
to  transport  them  up  the  river  five  British 
war-ships  appeared,  and  in  spite  of  the  clog 
ging  ice  in  the  lower  harbor,  three  of  them 
worked  in,  and  sent  ashore  their  marines  and 
a  part  of  a  regiment  of  regulars.  Thus  re- 
enforced,  Carleton  marched  out  of  the  city 
at  the  head  of  1,000  men  and  six  pieces  of 
artillery.  Only  250  Americans,  armed  and  in 
good  health,  remained  on  the  ground  at  this 
32 


Wayne's  First  Battle 

time  to  oppose  him,  and  they  retreated  rap 
idly  enough  to  escape,  although  they  had 
some  sick  with  them.  They  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  Sorel  River,  the  outlet  of  Lake 
Champlain,  on  May  12th. 

And  Carleton,  who,  with  1,800  well-pro 
vided  men,  had  been  held  a  close  prisoner  by 
500  ill-clad,  half-armed,  half-starved  Amer 
icans  during  the  winter,  when  reporting  this 
sortie,  said  he  "  marched  out  of  the  ports  St. 
Louis  and  St.  John's  to  see  what  the  mighty 
boasters  were  about." 

In  the  meantime  (April  25th),  General 
Washington,  who  was  then  at  New  York,  re 
ceived  orders  to  send  six  more  battalions  to 
Canada  under  General  John  Sullivan,  who  out 
ranked  Thomas.  And  with  Sullivan  went 
Colonel  Anthony  Wayne  and  three  compa 
nies  of  his  battalion. 

A  letter  from  Wayne  to  Washington,  writ 
ten  at  Albany  on  May  14th,  shows  that  not  un 
til  the  day  he  wrote  had  his  men  received  mus 
kets  ;  and  not  all  the  muskets  received  were  in 
good  repair.  But  finally,  on  June  2d,  Sullivan 
and  his  men,  including  Wayne's  battalion, 
reached  Sorel,  the  village  at  the  mouth  of  the 
outlet  of  Lake  Champlain,  to  which  Thomas 
had  retreated. 

33 


Anthony  Wayne 


Thomas  died  of  smallpox  on  the  day  that 
Sullivan  arrived,  and  because  of  that  dis 
ease  the  American  force  was  in  desperate 
straits.  But  it  was  by  no  means  disheart 
ened.  A  rumor  having  reached  camp  that  an 
advance  British  force  of  from  400  to  800  men 
had  taken  post  at  Three  Rivers,  Colonel  Ar 
thur  St.  Clair  had  obtained  permission  to  go 
down  the  river  with  600  men  and  try  to  cap 
ture  the  post  by  surprise.  He  departed  for 
Nicolet  a  few  hours  before  Sullivan  arrived, 
and  Sullivan,  on  learning  what  was  to  be 
done,  at  once  sent  General  William  Thomp 
son,  with  a  still  larger  force,  to  join  in  and 
take  command  of  the  expedition. 

With  Thompson  went  Colonel  Wayne,  who 
had  under  him  all  told  202  men.  Thompson 
overtook  St.  Clair  at  Nicolet,  -late  in  the  night 
of  June  6th,  and  the  next  night  the  united 
forces,  amounting  to  1,450  men,  "all  Penn- 
sylvanians  except  Maxwell's  battalion"  (a 
force  of  483  Jerseymen),  crossed  the  river, 
and  landed  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

It  was  a  hopeless  expedition  from  the 
start,  for  instead  of  a  British  colonel  with 
800  men  having  a  post  at  Three  Rivers,  some 
thousands  of  British  troops  and  several  war 
ships  had  advanced  that  far  on  the  way  to 
34 


Wayne's  First  Battle 

Montreal.  To  cross  the  river  was  to  invite 
the  destruction  of  the  entire  American  com 
mand,  but  to  add  to  the  probabilities  of  that 
destruction,  the  command  landed  nine  miles 
from  the  point  of  attack,  and  then  marched 
toward  Three  Rivers,  led  by  guides  who  took 
them  astray  through  winding  paths  so  long 
that  the  morning  of  June  8th  came  before 
they  arrived  in  sight  of  the  town. 

After  crossing  the  river,  Thompson  di 
vided  his  force  into  five  divisions,  four  for  at 
tack  on  the  post  and  one  for  reserve.  Colo 
nels  Maxwell,  St.  Clair,  Wayne,  and  Irvine 
had  command  of  the  attacking  divisions. 

As  the  command,  with  St.  Glair's  division 
in  the  lead,  hurried  forward  in  the  growing 
day,  they  saw  the  river  filled  with  armed 
ships  whose  broadsides  would  sweep  the  river- 
road,  and  Thompson  therefore  turned  off  to 
the  north  until  clear  of  the  fire  from  the  ship 
ping,  and  then  marched  on  parallel  with  the 
river.  A  thick  wood  before  him  seemed  to 
offer  an  admirable  shelter  through  which  he 
might  pass  to  get  in  the  rear  of  the  force  sup 
posed  to  be  encamped  near  Three  Rivers. 
But  on  entering  the  woods  the  men  found  it  a 
swamp,  three  miles  wide,  in  which  they  sank 
to  their  belts  most  of  the  time,  and  it  was  four 
35 


Anthony  Wayne 


hours  before  they  emerged  from  the  swamp 
into  the  open  fields  lying  on  the  point  of  land 
between  two  of  the  rivers  (St.  Maurice  and 
St.  Lawrence),  that  unite  where  the  village 
of  Three  Rivers  stood. 

And  as  the  bedraggled  Americans  ap 
peared  in  view  General  Fraser  ran  from  the 
midst  of  the  British  camp  to  the  edge  of  the 
bluff  and  shouted  to  the  war-ships : 

" i  For   God's   sake,  wake   up,   and   send 
ashore  all  the  guns  you  possibly  can!     The 
rebels  are  coming — two  or  three  thousand  of 
them.    They're  within  a  mile  of  the  town ! ' 
(Quoted  by  Justin  Smith.) 

Though  the  exact  number  of  the  British 
force  on  shore  is  not  given,  we  know  that  it 
was  ample  to  annihilate  the  American  com 
mand.  And  although  apparently  surprised 
when  the  "  rebels  "  appeared,  Fraser  was 
prompt  in  leading  forth  his  veterans. 

Accordingly,  when  Wayne  and  his  battal 
ion  (who  had  obtained  the  lead  in  wading 
through  the  forest-covered  swamp)  reached 
the  open  ground,  a  strong  British  column 
marched  to  meet  them.  At  the  same  time  a 
number  of  men-of-war  opened  fire,  and  Wayne 
found  himself  within  range  of  their  shot. 

Nevertheless,  Wayne  sent  a  company  of 
36 


Wayne's  First  Battle 

light  infantry  "to  advance  and  amuse  "  the 
enemy,  and  then,  after  forming  the  remain 
der  of  his  battalion  in  line  of  battle,  he 
marched  on  until  within  short  range,  when  he 
swung  the  two  ends  of  his  line  forward  until 
his  force  was  in  the  form  of  a  crescent  em 
bracing  the  head  of  the  British  column.  Then 
he  "poured  in  a  well  Aimed  and  heavy  fire." 
"They  attempted  to  Retreat  in  good  order," 
writes  Wayne  in  his  report,  "but  in  a  few 
minutes  broke  and  ran  in  the  utmost  confu 
sion."  The  cross-fire  from  Wayne's  crescent 
was  too  much  even  for  British  regulars. 

A  little  later  a  fresh  force  of  British 
opened  a  heavy  fire  "with  musketry,  field- 
pieces,  howitzers,  &c.,"  on  Wayne's  right 
flank.  But  Wayne  now  formed  his  men  in 
column,  and  seeing  Maxwell  coming  from  the 
swamp,  off  to  the  left,  and  the  other  Amer 
ican  divisions  coming  out  of  the  swamp  to 
take  position  on  his  right,  he  marched 
straight  forward  toward  the  enemy's  camp, 
but  only  to  find  that  breastworks  had  been 
thrown  up  to  protect  the  position,  and  that 
the  force  behind  the  works  far  exceeded  his 
own. 

As  he  approached  within  musket  range  of 
the  breastworks  Wayne  looked  about  to  see 
37 


Anthony  Wayne 


where  his  supporting  columns  were.  He  saw 
that  a  superior  force  was  driving  Maxwell 
back  to  the  swamp,  while  the  combined  fire 
from  the  ships  and  British  regulars  on  his 
right  had  been  so  deadly  that  two  divisions 
there,  though  led  by  General  Thompson  in 
person,  had  been  compelled  to  retreat  also. 
In  fact,  Wayne,  with  a  few  more  than  200 
men,  was  left  on  the  field  where  the  fire  of 
more  than  3,000  British  regulars,  besides 
that  of  the  guns  on  the  ships,  was  to  be  con 
centrated  upon  him. 

A  retreat  was  necessary  to  save  the  di 
vision,  and  it  was  made.  At  the  edge  of  the 
woods,  however,  the  American  reserves  were 
found,  and  Wayne  rallied  his  men,  collected 
as  many  as  he  could  from  other  divisions  (in 
all  nearly  800),  and  made  a  stand  until  it  was 
seen  that  the  enemy  were  coming  in  over 
whelming  numbers.  Then  detachment  after 
detachment  marched  away  until  only  20  rifle 
men  and  6  officers  remained  beside  Wayne. 
And  with  this  small  squad  he  held  his  ground 
for  an  hour. 

By  driving  home  the  first  column  of  Brit 
ish  that  came  to  the  attack,  and  by  advancing 
with  his  tiny  column  to  the  breastworks  of 
the  enemy,  Wayne  had  kept  the  British  from 


Wayne's  First  Battle 

coming  out  in  sufficient  force  to  cut  off  the 
Americans  while  they  were  on  the  open 
ground.  And  now  when  retreat  was  inevi 
table,  Wayne,  with  26  good  men  by  his  side, 
stood  his  ground  for  an  hour,  and  held  the 
enemy  in  check  while  the  Americans  escaped 
through  the  swamp. 


39 


CHAPTER  V 

ON  THE   RETREAT  TO  TICONDEROGA 

AFTER  passing  through  the  swamp  Wayne 
overhauled  and  gathered  into  an  orderly  com 
mand  between  600  and  700  men.  When  they 
were  nine  miles  from  the  field  of  battle  a  de 
tachment  of  British  regulars,  estimated  at 
from  700  to  1,500  men,  "  waylaid  and  en 
gaged  "  the  retreating  Americans.  But  they 
"did  us  little  damage,"  says  Wayne.  The 
boats  had  been  taken  from  the  landing-place 
by  the  guard  left  with  them,  in  order  to  keep 
them  from  being  captured  by  the  British  war 
ships,  and  Wayne  was  obliged  to  march  up 
along  the  north  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence  until 
opposite  Sorel  before  he  could  cross.  But  on 
the  "  third  day  almost  worn  out  with  fatigue, 
Hunger  &  Difficulties,  scarcely  to  be  paral 
leled,  we  arrived  with  1100  men." 

General  Thompson,  Colonel  Irvine,  and  a 

number  of  other  officers  were  taken  prisoners. 

The  total  American  loss  was  over  200,   of 

whom  150  were  prisoners  and  the  remainder 

40 


On  the  Retreat  to  Ticonderoga 

killed  and  wounded — a  mere  trifle  considering 
the  force  of  the  enemy.  Wayne  received  a 
slight  wound  on  the  leg.  The  British  loss  was 
never  learned,  but  one  American  officer  wrote 
that  their  number  of  killed  was  greater  than 
ours,  and  he  adds,  "Upon  the  whole  we  were 
repulsed,  not  beaten." 

General  Sullivan,  on  reaching  Sorel,  had 
been  exceedingly  hopeful  of  driving  the  Brit 
ish  from  Canada.  He  now  learned  that  they 
had  an  overwhelming  force  (13,000  regulars), 
that  they  were  advancing  toward  Montreal, 
and  that  only  by  a  prompt  retreat  could  his 
force  be  saved  from  capture.  On  June  14th 
the  British  fleet  was  seen  coming  up  the  St. 
Lawrence.  Sullivan  immediately  broke  camp 
and  retreated  up  the  Sorel  toward  Lake 
Champlain,  taking  all  the  camp  equipment 
and  munitions ;  but  there  was  some  confusion 
in  the  retreat. 

Meantime  Arnold,  who  commanded  at 
Montreal,  sent  Major  James  Wilkinson,  his 
aid,  to  Sullivan  to  ask  for  reenforcements. 
Wilkinson  in  after-years  became  a  most  de 
testable  traitor,  and  nothing  he  says  in  his 
Memoirs  is  to  be  trusted  where  there  was  any; 
motive,  real  or  imaginary,  in  his  mind  for 
misrepresenting  the  facts.  But  here  he  had 
4  41 


Anthony  Wayne 


no  such  motive.  On  meeting  Sullivan  at 
Chambly,  Wilkinson  says  he  was  sent  up  the 
river  with  orders  to  Baron  de  Woedtke  (a 
German  volunteer),  who  commanded  the  rear 
guard,  to  detach  500  men  to  Arnold's  aid. 
Rain  was  falling  and  the  mud  was  ankle 
deep,  but  Wilkinson  started  away  on  his 
errand. 

"I  found  every  house  and  hut  in  my  route 
crowded  with  stragglers,"  he  says,  "men  with 
out  officers  and  officers  without  men.  .  .  . 
Despondency  had  seized  all  ranks,  and  under 
favor  of  a  dark  and  tempestuous  night,  with 
500  fresh  men,  the  whole  army  could  have 
been  destroyed." 

Next  morning  he  met  Lieutenant-Colonel 
William  Allen,  of  St.  Glair's  regiment,  to 
whom  he  told  his  errand.  Allen  said: 

"This  army  is  conquered  by  its  fears,  and 
I  doubt  whether  you  can  draw  assistance 
from  it ;  but  Colonel  Wayne  is  in  the  rear,  and 
if  any  one  can  do  it,  he  is  the  man." 

"Half  an  hour  afterward,"  continues  Wil 
kinson,  "I  met  that  gallant  soldier  as  much  at 
his  ease  as  if  he  was  marching  to  a  parade  of 
exercise,  and  without  hesitation  he  deter 
mined  to  carry  the  order  into  execution  if  pos 
sible.  For  this  purpose  he  halted  at  a  bridge 
42 


On  the  Retreat  to  Ticonderoga 

and  posted  a  guard  with  orders  to  stop  every 
man,  without  respect  to  corps,  who  appeared 
to  be  active,  alert  and  equipped.  In  less 
than  an  hour  the  detachment  was  completely 
formed,  and  in  motion  for  Longuille  " — the 
town  on  the  south  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence  op 
posite  Montreal.  "It  was  observable  that 
those  very  men,  who  had  been  only  the  day  be 
fore  retreating  in  confusion  before  a  division 
of  the  enemy,  now  marched  with  alacrity 
against  his  main  body !  " 

After  marching  on  this  road  two  miles, 
Wayne  learned  that  Arnold  had  escaped,  and 
therefore  turned  toward  Chambly.  He  was 
on  a  road  on  which  the  main  body  of  Amer 
icans  were  looking  for  the  enemy  to  appear, 
and  when  he  arrived  in  view  of  the  American 
camp,  says  Wilkinson,  "we  were  taken  for  the 
enemy,  and  great  alarm  and  confusion  en 
sued  in  the  main  body  of  troops;  the  drums 
beat  to  arms,  and  General  Sullivan  and  his 
officers  were  observed  making  great  exertions 
to  prepare  for  battle,  but  numbers  were  seen 
to  seek  safety  in  flight.  Colonel  Wayne 
halted  his  column,  pulled  out  his  glass,  and 
seemed  to  enjoy  the  panic  his  appearance  had 
produced." 

It  is  not  to  be  noted  alone  that  Wayne  was 
43 


Anthony  Wayne 


entirely  self-possessed  and  at  his  ease  during 
all  this  time ;  the  most  important  fact  is  that 
he  was  able  here,  as  at  Three  Rivers,  to  col 
lect  untrained  men  as  they  fled  from  the 
enemy,  and  form  them  into  an  orderly  com 
mand,  apparently  as  cool  as  himself,  and 
ready  to  march  against  the  main  body  of  the 
enemy. 

From  Chambly  the  army  retreated  to  St. 
John's.  There  the  bateaux  were  loaded  with 
all  the  munitions  of  war,  including  all  the  can 
non  save  three  pieces  considered  worthless, 
and  after  firing  everything  about  the  fort 
that  would  burn,  the  men  shoved  the  bateaux 
up  the  rapids  (six  miles),  officers  as  well  as 
men  wading  in,  neck  deep,  to  push  them 
against  the  current,  and  so  they  carried  every 
thing  safely  to  Isle  aux  Noix,  and  thence, 
after  a  time,  to  Crown  Point,  where  the  army 
arrived  on  July  2,  1776. 

A  count  at  this  post  showed  that  Sullivan 
had  5,000  men  all  told,  but  of  this  force  one- 
half  were  in  the  hospitals.  The  smallpox 
that  had  broken  out  before  Quebec  had  spread 
to  the  reenforcements  as  they  arrived  in  Can 
ada.  In  spite  of  orders  to  the  contrary,  men 
and  officers  inoculated  themselves  with  the 
virus,  for  it  was  observed  that  a  smaller  per 
44 


On  the  Retreat  to  Ticonderoga 

cent  died  when  inoculated  than  when  the  dis 
ease  was  taken  in  the  ordinary  way.  In  all, 
nearly  10,000  men,  including  militia,  were  sent 
into  Canada  in  the  early  months  of  1776,  but 
of  these  only  2,500  were  fit  for  battle  on  the 
day  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  pro 
claimed  at  Philadelphia. 

Nearly  all  historians  speak  of  this  cam 
paign  in  Canada  as  disastrous  to  the  colonial 
cause,  and  they  say  the  army  "failed  because 
of  neglect  "  (Lossing).  But  in  the  long  run 
failure  was  better  for  the  cause  of  American 
liberty  than  success.  While  the  British  were 
triumphant  there  was  no  hope  that  they  would 
make  any  concessions  to  armed  colonists,  and 
the  colonists  were  therefore  compelled  against 
their  will  to  prepare  for  a  prolonged  war. 
The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  made 
necessary  by  the  failure  to  capture  Quebec, 
and  the  war  for  absolute  liberty  followed  on 
the  retreat  of  the  American  army  to  Crown 
Point. 

In  saving  the  army  Sullivan  had  done 
well,  but  Congress  thought  an  "experienced 
general "  was  needed  at  the  head  of  the 
Northern  Army.  There  were  but  two  experi 
enced  generals  of  the  requisite  rank  in  the 
American  forces — the  traitor  Charles  Lee 

45 


Anthony  Wayne 


and  the  incompetent  Gates.  These  men  had 
held  rank  and  had  seen  considerable  service 
in  the  British  army;  Gates  was  a  captain 
under  Braddock,  for  instance.  Both  were 
soldiers  of  fortune  in  the  American  army,  and 
both  exerted  a  most  baleful  influence  on  the 
American  cause.  But  Lee  was  at  first  or 
dered  to  Lake  Champlain,  and  then  Gates  was 
substituted.  Sullivan  resigned  when  super 
seded,  but  he  was  persuaded  to  remain  in  the 
army,  and  the  field-officers  under  him  wrote 
him  a  complimentary  letter  on  July  8.  It  was 
one  that  he  had  fully  earned,  and  Wayne  was 
one  of  the  signers. 

On  July  7th  General  Gates  and  General 
Schuyler  having  arrived  meantime,  a  council 
of  war  considered  the  situation  at  Crown 
Point.  It  decided  that  the  place  was  "not 
tenable  .  .  .  not  capable  of  being  made  so 
this  summer."  It  was  therefore  resolved  to 
retire  to  Ticonderoga.  Twenty-one  field-offi 
cers  sent  a  written  protest  to  General  Schuy 
ler,  urging  him  to  remain  at  Crown  Point,  but 
Wayne  was  not  one  of  the  number.  Wash 
ington,  who  supposed  that  the  post  was 
stronger  than  it  was,  was  surprised  to  learn 
that  it  was  to  be  evacuated,  but  the  fact  was 
that  the  army  would  have  been  captured 
46 


On  the  Retreat  to  Ticonderoga 

there,  once  the  enemy  gained  control  of  the 
lake,  as  they  eventually  did. 

Accordingly  the  army  was  transferred  to 
Ticonderoga,  beginning  in  the  middle  of  July, 
and  the  sick  were  sent  on  to  Fort  George.  At 
Ticonderoga  it  was  determined  to  make  a  final 
stand.  To  view  this  stand  came  Carleton 
after  his  victory  over  the  little  American  fleet 
(October  llth)  gave  him  command  of  the  lake. 
But  "the  strength  of  the  works,  the  difficulty 
of  approach,  the  countenance  of  the  enemy,  with 
other  cogent  reasons  prevented  this  design 
from  taking  place."  After  a  little  reconnoi- 
tering  Carleton  retreated  to  Canada,  and  went 
into  winter  quarters. 

In  the  meantime  Washington  had  been 
driven  from  New  York,  across  New  Jersey, 
and  on  December  8th  he  crossed  the  Delaware 
in  his  retreat,  having  with  him  but  3,000  men. 
"The  days  that  try  men's  souls  "  were  upon 
the  patriots.  But  when  Carleton,  disheart 
ened  by  a  view  of  "the  countenance  "  of  the 
Americans,  retreated,  seven  regiments  were 
detached  from  the  garrison  at  Ticonderoga 
and  sent  to  join  Washington;  and  when  thus 
reenforced  he  was  able  to  recross  the  Dela 
ware.  The  capture  of  1,000  Hessians  at  Tren 
ton  (December  26th)  and  the  victory  at 
47 


Anthony  Wayne 


Princeton  (January  3,  1777)  followed,  and 
the  British  forces  were  finally  housed  at  New 
Brunswick,  Amboy,  and  Paulus  Hook. 

During  the  days  while  Carleton  was  on 
the  lake,  Wayne  had  part  in  an  important 
piece  of  work  that  never  amounted  to  any 
thing  because  General  Gates  gave  no  attention 
to  the  matter.  Colonel  John  Trumble,  who 
was  then  an  adjutant  on  Gates's  staff,  became 
convinced  that  Carleton,  on  coming  to  Ticon- 
deroga,  would  turn  the  American  left,  cross 
the  north  end  of  Lake  George,  and  place  a 
battery  on  top  of  Mount  Defiance,  a  hill  600 
feet  high,  standing  at  the  end  of  the  long 
point  of  land  between  Lake  George  and  Lake 
Champlain. 

"I  was  ridiculed  for  advancing  such  an  ex 
travagant  idea,"  Trumbull  says  in  his  auto 
biography,  but  with  a  long  12-pounder  located 
in  the  Mount  Independence  works,  he  made 
trial  of  the  range,  and  although  the  gun 
was  loaded  with  two  shot,  it  threw  them  more 
than  half-way  to  the  top. 

There  was  now  no  denying  that  the  moun 
tain  top  was  within  range  of  the  American 
works,  "but  still  it  was  insisted  upon  that  this 
summit  was  inaccessible  to  an  enemy." 
Thereupon  Trumbull  took  "General  Arnold, 
48 


On  the  Retreat  to  Ticonderoga 

Colonel  Wayne,  and  several  other  active  offi 
cers  "  in  Gates's  barge  and  landed  "at  the  foot 
of  the  hill  where  it  was  most  precipitous  and 
rocky.  .  .  .  The  ascent  ivas  difficult  and  labo 
rious,  but  we  clambered  to  the  summit  in  a 
short  time.  .  .  .  And  when  we  looked  down 
upon  the  outlet  of  Lake  George,  it  was  obvi 
ous  to  "all  that  there  could  be  no  difficulty  in 
driving  up  a  loaded  carriage." 

A  proper  report  of  this  expedition  was 
made  by  the  party  to  Gates,  but  with  the  lofty 
contempt  which  all  the  foreigners  in  the 
American  army  held  for  the  native  officers, 
the  matter  was  ignored.  When  Burgoyne 
drove  St.  Clair  from  Ticonderoga  in  1777  it 
was  because  Gates  had  ignored  the  report  of 
this  party,  of  whom  Wayne  was  one. 

When  Carleton  had  returned  to  Canada 
and  the  seven  regiments  of  Continentals  were 
sent  to  reenforce  Washington,  Wayne  was 
placed  (November  18,  1776)  in  command  at 
the  Ticonderoga  fortifications.  On  Novem 
ber  29th  he  had  2,451  men  all  told  under  his 
command,  but  of  these  only  1,109  were  fit  for 
duty. 

By  the  British  plan  of  action  two  great 
armies  had  been  sent  to  America  to  sever  the 
patriotic  forces.  Howe  had  taken  New  York 
49 


Anthony  Wayne 


and  was  overrunning  New  Jersey.  Carleton 
had  retreated  to  Canada,  but  it  was  by  no 
means  unlikely  that  he  would  advance  once 
more  to  Ticonderoga  when  the  ice  on  the  lake 
was  thick  enough  to  bear  the  weight  of  an 
army,  and  this  advance  was  particularly  to 
be  feared  when  he  should  hear  of  the  deple 
tion  of  the  American  garrison.  In  view  of 
the  British  plans,  therefore,  the  two  most  im 
portant  commands  in  the  patriot  army  were 
those  opposed  to  the  two  great  invading  ar 
mies.  The  chief  post  of  honor  was  that  op 
posed  to  Howe,  and  the  second  was  that  where 
Anthony  Wayne  sat  down  to  guard  the  North 
ern  Gateway.  By  good  work,  and  good  work 
only,  Wayne  advanced  that  far  in  his  first 
campaign. 


50 


CHAPTER  VI 

IN   COMMAND   AT  TICONDEROGA 

THE  views  which  the  documents  of  the 
period  give  of  Wayne  and  his  men  at  Ticon- 
deroga  are  most  interesting.  To  show  the 
spirit  of  the  men  it  may  be  related  that  when 
Carleton  was  supposed  to  be  coming  to  at 
tack  the  old  fort,  100  Pennsylvanians,  who 
were  in  the  hospital  at  Fort  George,  and  who, 
in  some  cases,  had  already  been  discharged 
from  service,  on  hearing  the  news  that  Carle- 
ton  was  coming,  got  off  their  beds,  buckled  on 
their  equipments,  and  "immediately  returned 
to  this  place  determined  to  conquer  or  die 
with  their  countrymen." 

But  when  all  danger  from  Carleton's 
army  was  over  for  the  season  the  men  began 
to  think  of  home.  There  were  many  good 
reasons  why  they  should  do  this.  Wayne 
himself  described  Ticonderoga  as  "the  last 
part  of  the  world  that  God  made  &  I  have 
some  reason  to  believe  it  was  finished  in  the 
dark."  The  men  were  "destitute  of  almost 
51 


Anthony  Wayne 


every  necessary  fit  for  a  soldier.  Shoes, 
stockings,  shirts  and  coats  are  articles  not 
easily  done  without,  yet  they  cannot  be  ob 
tained,"  says  Wayne  in  one  letter.  In  an 
other  (to  Dr.  Franklin)  he  says  of  his  men, 
"tho'  poorly  and  thinly  clad,  .  .  .  the  fatigue 
they  have  undergone  in  the  place  is  inex 
pressible." 

On  December  4,  1776,  in  a  letter  to  the 
Pennsylvania  committee,  he  completes  the 
picture  of  the  distress  of  his  men.  He  says : 
"  The  wretched  conditions  they  are  now  in  for 
want  of  almost  every  necessary  of  the  conve 
nience  of  life,  except  flour  and  bad  beef,  is 
shocking  to  humanity  and  beggars  all  descrip 
tion.  We  have  neither  beds  nor  bedding  for 
our  sick  to  lay  on,  or  under,  other  than  their 
own  clothing;  no  medicine  or  regimen  suit 
able  for  them;  the  dead  and  dying  laying 
mingled  together  in  our  hospital,  or  rather 
house  of  carnage,  is  no  uncommon  sight. 
These  are  objects  truly  worthy  of  your  no 
tice." 

Then,  fearing  greatly  the  evils  of  a  stand 
ing  army,  and  knowing  nothing  of  the  neces 
sity  of  giving  men  a  thorough  training  before 
sending  them  into  battle,  Congress  had  en 
listed  men  for  one  year  only.  The  time  of 
52 


In  Command  at  Ticonderoga 

Wayne's  own  battalion  was  to  expire  on 
January  3,  1777,  and  that  of  other  battal 
ions  expired  earlier. 

Foreseeing  that  he  could  not  hold  the  gar 
rison  much  beyond  the  terms  for  which  the 
men  had  enlisted,  Wayne  began  to  make  ap 
peals  for  fresh  troops.  Schuyler  forwarded 
appeals  also,  but  Congress  was  loaded  with  all 
kinds  of  executive  as  well  as  legislative  work, 
and  the  time  passed  without  any  proper  ef 
fort  being  made  to  relieve  the  distresses  of 
the  garrison  or  to  replace  the  men. 

In  February  a  crisis  came.  A  company  of 
riflemen  under  a  Captain  Neilson  had  been 
attached  to  Wayne's  battalion  (November 
15th),  and  had  been  kept  in  the  fort  after  their 
time  expired  because  Wayne's  battalion  re 
mained.  But  on  the  night  of  February  19th 
they  determined  they  would  equip  themselves 
and  on  the  next  day  "  force  their  way  through 
all  opposition."  Accordingly,  at  gun-fire  they 
formed  in  column,  and  were  just  starting  to 
leave  when  W^ayne  confronted  them  and  de 
manded  to  know  "the  cause  of  such  con 
duct." 

"They  began  in  tumultuous  manner  to  in 
form  me,"  wrote  Wayne,  "that  their  time 
of  enlistment  was  expired,  and  that  they 
53 


Anthony  Wayne 


looked  upon  themselves  as  at  liberty  to  go 
home." 

They  kept  marching  on  as  they  shouted 
this  explanation,  but  Wayne  ordered  them,  in 
a  manner  that  compelled  obedience,  to  halt, 
and  then  he  directed  some  leader  to  step  out 
and  speak  for  them.  A  sergeant  obeyed. 
Wayne  "presented  a  pistol  at  his  breast,"  and 
the  man  fell  on  his  knees  and  begged  for  life. 
Then  the  company,  on  command,  grounded 
arms. 

A  short  address  by  Wayne  led  the  com 
pany  to  agree  to  remain,  but  "a  certain  Jonah 
Holida,"  of  Captain  Coe's  company,  endeav 
ored  to  excite  the  company  to  mutiny  again, 
and  in  Wayne's  presence.  When  Wayne  be 
gan  to  question  him,  Holida  "justified  his  con 
duct" — answered  insolently  and  most  impu 
dently,  for  which  Wayne  instantly  knocked 
him  down. 

"I  thought  proper  to  chastise  him  for  his 
Insolence  on  the  spot  before  the  men,  and  then 
sent  him  to  answer  for  his  Crime  to  the  main 
Guard,"  says  Wayne.  And  when  Captain  Coe 
came  to  Wayne  and  said  he  knew  "the  cause 
for  which  his  soldier  was  struck  and  con 
fined,"  and  expressed  the  opinion  "that  every 
Soldier  had  a  Right  to  Deliver  his  Sentiments 
54 


In  Command  at  Ticonderoga 

on  every  Occasion  without  being  punished," 
Wayne  put  him  under  arrest  as  an  "  abettor 
of  Mutiny." 

The  incident  is  memorable  as  showing  that 
.Wayne  was  a  fighting  man  in  more  than  one 
way — he  could  and  would  knock  a  man  down 
if  need  be — and  because  it  shows,  too,  what 
ideas  of  discipline  prevailed  among  the  offi 
cers  under  Wayne. 

"Our  garrison  is  now  very  weak,"  says 
Wayne  in  the  letter  in  which  he  describes  this 
mutiny.  "If  you  have  any  good  troops,  be 
they  ever  so  few,  pray  send  them  on  with  all 
possible  despatch.  I  would  rather  risk  my 
life  and  reputation  and  the  fate  of  America 
on  Two  Hundred  Good  Soldiers  than  on  all 
those  now  on  tKe  Ground  .  .  .  many  of  whom 
are  children,  twelve  or  fifteen  years  of  age. 
Add  to  this  that  they  have  but  about  one 
month  to  stay  and  are  badly  armed,  and  the 
Officers  are  Enemies  to  Discipline." 

And  yet  on  January  22d  Wayne  had  been 
able  to  report  that  "I  shall  soon  Complete  the 
Abattis  Round  the  Old  Fort,  and  Octagons  on 
Mt.  Independence,  and  two  new  Blockhouses ; 
so  that  in  a  few  days  we  hope  to  render  this 
post  tenable  and  leave  it  in  much  securer  and 
better  state  than  we  found  it.  The  manner  in 
55 


Anthony  Wayne 


which  I  have  kept  our  Guards  and  Sentries, 
and  the  constant  succession  of  Scouts  which 
I  have  out — if  followed  by  my  successors — 
will  effectually  prevent  a  surprise." 

The  men  had  flour  and  bad  beef  only  to 
eat.  They  were  thinly  clothed  and  many 
were  barefooted  in  the  midst  of  the  Adiron 
dack  winter.  Unable  to  endure  such  hard 
ships,  many  were  dying.  And  the  condition 
of  the  sick  as  they  lay  mingled  with  the  dead 
and  dying  " beggared  all  description.7'  Under 
such  conditions  these  men  had  been  detained 
beyond  the  time  for  which  they  had  enlisted, 
and  yet  Wayne  was  able  to  complete  the 
"Abattis  Bound  the  Old  Fort  and  Octagons 
on  Mt.  Independence." 

During  all  this  time  it  is  plain  from  his 
letters  that  he  was  rapidly  developing  the 
abilities  of  a  general.  "I  am  well  convinced 
that  we  shall  never  Establish  our  Liberties," 
he  writes,  "  Until  we  learn  to  beat  the  English 
Rebels  in  the  field — I  hope  the  day  is  not  far 
off." 

To  Richard  Peters,  secretary  of  the  Board 
of  War,  he  wrote:  "If  you  have  any  regard 
for  the  Liberty  of  your  Country,  or  the  Honor 
of  America  .  .  .  give  more  attention  to  Ma 
noeuvring,  and  less  to  working,  and  rest  As- 
56 


In  Command  at  Ticonderoga 

sured  of  Success."  To  another:  "Are  our 
people  so  used  to  stand  behind  works  that  they 
dare  not  face  the  foe  in  the  field?  That — that 
is  the  rock  we  have  split  on."  "The  Alarm 
ing  Situation  of  Affairs  in  Penns'a  and  Jer 
sey,"  he  writes,  after  hearing  how  Washing 
ton  had  been  driven  from  New  York,  "causes 
us  most  Ardently  to  Wish  for  Opportunity  of 
meeting  those  Sons  of  War  and  Rapine  face  to 
face  and  man  to  man." 

On  February  21,  1777,  the  day  after  he 
quelled  the  last  of  the  mutinous  spirit  at  Ti 
conderoga  by  knocking  down  Jonah  Halida 
and  putting  Captain  Coe  under  arrest  as  an 
"Abettor  of  Mutiny,"  Colonel  Wayne  was  pro 
moted  by  Congress  to  the  rank  of  brigadier- 
general.  In  September,  1776,  Dr.  Benjamin 
Eush,  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress 
and  a  personal  friend  of  Wayne,  wrote  him, 
saying : 

"Inter  nos — an  attention  in  you  to  Gen'l 
Gates  may  facilitate  "  your  own  promotion. 
Wayne  wrote  back  a  letter  in  which  he  indig 
nantly  refused  to  do  anything  of  the  kind. 
And  it  may  as  well  be  said  here  as  elsewhere 
that  while  Anthony  Wayne  was  active  and 
earnest  in  his  efforts  to  procure  promotion 
for  deserving  officers  under  him,  he  never 
5  57 


Anthony  Wayne 


used  any  influence  whatever  or  made  any  ap 
peal  to  any  one  to  secure  promotion  for  him 
self. 

It  is  said  by  most  of  the  writers  that 
.Wayne  was  promoted  because  of  his  gallant 
conduct  in  saving  the  force  that  had  tried  to 
take  the  British  by  surprise  at  Three  Rivers. 
It  may  have  been  so,  but  Congress  made  no 
mention  of  the  reasons  for  promoting  him. 
That  he  had  shown  capacity  and  ability  to 
serve  in  this  rank  after  the  retreat  from  Can 
ada,  as  well  as  when  first  under  fire,  was  very 
well  known  to  Washington  and  other  general 
officers,  and  to  Congress;  and  it  is  fair  to 
suppose  that  his  work  at  Ticonderoga  was  of 
some  influence  in  the  matter. 

On  January  2,  1777,  Wayne,  in  a  letter  to 
General  Schuyler,  said,  speaking  of  his  Penn- 
sylvanians  in  connection  with  "the  Alarming 
Situation  of  Affairs  in  Penns'a  and  Jersey  " : 

"These  worthy  fellows  are  second  to  none 
in  Courage,  (I  have  seen  them  proved),  and  I 
know  they  are  not  far  behind  any  Regulars  in 
Point  of  Discipline.  Such  troops,  actuated 
by  Principle  and  fired  with  just  resentment, 
must  be  an  acceptable  and  perhaps  seasonable 
Re-inforcement  to  Gen'l  Washington  at  this 
critical  Juncture.  If  you  should  be  of  the 
58 


In  Command  at  Ticonderoga 

same  opinion,  and  cause  us  ...  to  march 
with  all  dispatch  to  join  the  Main  Army  .  .  . 
I  would  answer  for  it  that  they  will  not 
turn  aside  from  Danger  when  the  safety 
and  Honor  of  their  country  require  them  to 
face  it." 

If  Wayne  were  a  naval  officer  in  modern 
days  we  should  find  him  seeking  service  in  a 
big  cruiser  instead  of  a  battle-ship.  He  chafed 
when  confined  behind  the  ivalls  of  Ticonderoga, 
and  begged  for  permission  to  join  the  force 
under  Washington,  where  there  was  a  pros 
pect  of  a  fight. 

Washington,  after  retrieving  nearly  all  of 
New  Jersey  from  the  British  grasp,  had  en 
camped  for  the  winter  at  Morristown.  On 
April  12,  1777,  General  Wayne  was  ordered 
to  join  him  at  that  place.  When  there  he  was 
placed  in  command  of  eight  regiments  (1,700 
men),  known  as  the  Pennsylvania  Line,  and 
with  these  he  was  to  see  of  hot  work  not  a  lit 
tle  and  of  distress  more  than  enough  to  make 
the  heart  ache  even  to  this  day. 


59 


CHAPTER   VII 

IN   COMMAND   OF   THE   PENNSYLVANIA   LINE 

GENERAL  WAYNE  arrived  at  Washington's 
camp,  Morristown,  N.  J.,  near  the  middle  of 
May,  1777.  The  force  under  Washington  at 
this  time  amounted  to  7,300  men,  who  were 
divided  into  five  divisions  of  two  brigades 
each.  Though  but  a  brigadier-general,  the 
work  and  responsibility  of  a  major-general 
were  placed  upon  Wayne,  for  he  was  ordered 
to  the  command  of  one  of  these  divisions — the 
Pennsylvania  Line. 

From  the  beginning  the  most  important 
part  of  Wayne's  work  was  the  training  of  his 
men.  Washington's  army  had  been  com 
posed,  as  all  the  American  forces  were,  of 
men  enlisted  for  one  year  only.  The  time  of 
these  men  had  expired  in  midwinter.  No 
provision  was  made  by  Congress  to  replace 
the  regiments  who  were  to  return  until  after 
they  were  mustered  out,  and  for  many  weeks 
Washington  had  to  rely  on  the  militia  who 
turned  out  for  the  occasion  to  hold  the  camp. 
It  was  a  time  of  great  peril,  but  the  inaction 

60 


Command  of  Pennsylvania  Line 

of  the  British  forces  saved  the  American 
army.  Under  these  circumstances  Wayne, 
on  reaching  Morristown,  necessarily  found 
his  division  composed  of  men  who,  save  for  a 
few  of  the  last  year's  troops,  knew  nothing  of 
the  manual  of  arms  and  nothing  of  forma 
tions  for  the  maneuvers  needed  in  time  of 
battle.  Some  of  them  were  expert  shots  with 
the  rifle.  But  when  the  kind  of  fighting  that 
it  was  desirable  to  do  was  considered,  the  rifle 
was  not  the  best  weapon,  and  accordingly, 
after  consultation  with  Washington,  Wayne 
wrote  (June  3, 1777),  to  the  Board  of  the  War 
saying  that  "His  Excellency  wishes  to  have 
our  Rifles  exchanged  for  Good  Muskets  and 
Bayonets.  Experience  has  taught  us  that 
rifles  are  not  fit  for  the  field.  A  few  only  will 
be  retained  in  each  regiment,  and  those  placed 
in  the  hands  of  Real  marksmen." 

The  objection  to  the  rifles  as  then  made 
was  that  they  had  no  bayonets.  In  a  battle 
on  the  open  field  the  Americans  had  to  depend 
entirely  on  gun-fire,  and  while  the  Americans 
were  reloading  their  rifles  the  British  came, 
charging  with  bayonets  fixed.  Having  no 
bayonets,  the  Americans  had  to  fly. 

On  June  7th  Wayne  writes:  "We  are  use 
fully  employed  in  manoeuvring.  Our  people 

61 


Anthony  Wayne 


are  daily  gaining  Health,  Spirits  and  Disci 
pline — the  spade  &  pick  axe  are  thrown  aside 
for  British  Rebels  to  pick  up." 

A  perusal  of  Wayne's  correspondence 
shows  that  he  used  capital  letters  for  the  pur 
pose  of  placing  emphasis  on  his  words,  and 
that  he  frequently  called  the  enemy  " Rebels." 

On  May  28th  Washington  marched  from 
Morristown  to  Middlebrook,  N.  J.  At  Mid- 
dlebrook  Washington  was  a  little  farther 
from  the  Highlands,  but  he  was  nearer  the 
enemy,  and  it  was  because  of  this  advance 
that  the  army  was  in  the  good  state  of 
"Health,  Spirits  and  Discipline  "  described  by 
Wayne.  Wayne's  own  "  Spirits  "  certainly 
were  high,  and  with  good  reason,  for  he  says : 
"His  Excellency  has  posted  me  in  Front  & 
honored  me  with  the  Charge  of  the  most  ma 
terial  pass  leading  to  the  Camp." 

Alexander  Graydon,  in  his  Memoirs,  gives 
a  description  of  Wayne  as  he  appeared  at  this 
time  (p.  277) : 

"General  Wayne's  quondam  uniform  as  a 
Colonel  of  the  Fourth  Battalion  was,  I  think, 
blue  and  white,  in  which  he  was  accustomed 
to  appear  in  exemplary  neatness ;  whereas  he 
now  dressed  in  a  dingy  red  coat,  a  black  rusty 
cravat  and  tarnished  hat." 
62 


Command  of  Pennsylvania  Line 

Apparently  Wayne  dressed  thus  with  de 
liberate  intent,  and  for  a  very  good  reason. 
In  a  letter  dated  July  3d,  he  speaks  of  one  of 
his  regiments,  and  says,  "they  have  ngver  re 
ceived  any  Uniform  except  hunting  shirts, 
which  are  worn  out,  and  altho'  a  body  of  fine 
men,  yet  from  being  in  rags  and  badly  armed 
they  are  viewed  with  contempt  by  the  other 
troops,  and  begin  to  despise  themselves." 
While  it  was  impossible  to  replace  the  ragged 
hunting  shirts  with  a  decent  uniform  Wayne 
would  not  make  the  rags  more  conspicuous  by 
appearing  among  his  men  dressed  with  ex 
emplary  neatness. 

When  Wayne  joined  Washington's  army 
he  had  not  been  at  home  for  sixteen  months. 
He  wrote  to  his  wife  a  letter  on  June  7th,  tell 
ing  why  he  could  not  visit  her.  "I  can't  be 
spared  from  camp.  I  have  the  Confidence  of 
the  General,  and  the  Hearts  of  the  Soldiers 
who  will  support  me  in  the  Day  of  Action. 
.  .  .  The  Times  Require  great  Sacrifices  to 
be  made.  The  Blessings  of  Liberty  cannot  be 
purchased  at  too  high  a  price — the  Blood  and 
treasure  of  the  Choicest  and  best  Spirits  of 
this  Land  is  but  a  trifling  consideration  for 
the  Rich  Inheritance." 

But  in  no  way,  perhaps,  can  the  patriot- 
63 


Anthony  Wayne 


ism  of  the  man  be  shown  to  better  advantage 
than  by  comparing  his  expression  of  it  with 
the  sentiments  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  the 
member  of  Congress  already  mentioned,  in 
letters  written  at  this  time.  Rush's  mind  was 
full  of  State  politics.  When  the  British  civil 
power  was  overthrown,  the  people  of  Penn 
sylvania  as  a  mass  took  the  civil  power  in 
their  own  hands  and  created  a  constitution 
that  threw  out  of  power  those  known  before 
the  war  as  "the  governing  class  "  (men  of 
high  social  position),  and  these  "did  not  hesi 
tate  to  sneer  at  the  work  of  the  radical  mob," 
as  they  called  the  new  leaders.  Some  of  these 
people  of  the  former  "governing  class  "  were 
loyalists  and  some  were  active  Tories,  but  a 
large  number  were  sincere  American  patriots. 
Dr.  Rush  was  unquestionably  one  of  the  pa 
triots,  but  he  sincerely  believed  that  the  new 
constitution  would  ruin  the  State.  It  must 
be  remembered  here  that  Wayne,  too,  was  of 
the  old  "governing  class,"  and  that  his  per 
sonal  friends  and  associates  at  home  were 
also  of  it.  It  was  therefore  natural  thai  Dr. 
Rush  should  write  to  Wayne  to  bewail  the  po 
litical  situation  in  the  State. 

"The  most  respectable  whig  characters  in 
the  state  are  with  us,"  says  Rush.     "I  need 
64 


Command  of  Pennsylvania  Line 

not  point  out  to  you  the  danger  and  folly  of 
the  Constitution.  It  has  substituted  mob 
Government  for  one  of  the  happiest  govern 
ments  in  the  world.  .  .  .  Alas !  that  our  minds 
should  be  turned  from  opposing  foreign 
tyranny.  Some  Change  must  be  made  or 
the  Power  of  this  important  state  will  never 
be  exerted  for  the  Salvation  of  American  Lib 
erty.  .  .  .  Come  and  let  us  weep  together. 
Let  us  unite  our  efforts  once  more,  and  per 
haps  we  can  recover  Pennsylvania." 

Thus  wrote  the  politician.  In  reply  Wayne 
wrote : 

"I  must  for  the  present  request  you  and 
every  friend  to  his  Country  to  exert  your 
selves  in  Calling  forth  the  Strength  of  Penns'a 
and  Completing  our  Battalions,  which  are 
yet  very  weak.  Let  us  once  be  in  condi 
tion  to  Vanquish  these  British  Rebels,  and  I 
answer  for  it  that  then  your  present  Rulers 
will  give  way  for  better  men  which  will  pro 
duce  better  Measures." 

He  thought  more  of  the  "Country  "  than 
of  "Penns'a,"  and  he  spelled  country  with  a 
capital  C.  And  then  to  stir  the  latent  patri 
otism  of  the  doctor,  Wayne  adds : 

"We  Offered  General  Grant  Battle  six 
times  the  other  day.  He  as  often  formed 

65 


Anthony  Wayne 


but  always  on  our  approach  his  people  broke 
and  Ban  after  firing  a  few  volleys  which  we 
never  returned,  being  determined  to  let  them 
feel  the  force  of  our  fire  at  close  quarters  and 
give  them  the  Bayonet  under  cover  of  the  smoke. 
This  Howe  [slip  of  the  pen — he  meant 
Grant],  who  was  to  March  through  America 
at  the  head  of  5000  men  had  his  Coat  much 
Dirtied,  his  horse's  head  taken  off,  and  him 
self  badly  Bruis'd  for  having  the  presump 
tion  at  the  head  of  700  British  Troops  to  face 
500  Penns'as." 

Graydon  wrote  in  his  Memoirs  that  Wayne 
had  a  "vaunting  style,"  but  adds  that  he  was 
"unquestionably  as  brave  as  any  man  in  the 
army,"  and  that  he  "could  fight  as  well  as  brag" 
— the  truth  of  which  shall  appear. 

On  July  5th  St.  Clair  was  driven  from  Ti- 
conderoga  by  Burgoyne's  advancing  host,  and 
by  the  plan  of  the  British  ministry,  Howe 
should  have  gone  up  the  river  to  join  him. 
But  in  the  meantime  General  Charles  Lee  had 
been  captured  by  the  British,  and  turning 
traitor  to  the  Americans,  he  gave  Howe  such 
attractive  plans  for  capturing  Philadelphia, 
"the  rebel  capital,"  that  Howe  adopted  them 
instead  of  going  to  join  Burgoyne.  On  July 
23,  1777,  Howe  and  the  British  fleet  left  New 
G6 


Command  of  Pennsylvania  Line 

York.  They  entered  the  Chesapeake  Bay  on 
August  15th,  and  on  the  25th  landed  at  Elk 
Ferry,  near  where  the  Delaware  and  Chesa 
peake  Canal  now  enters  Chesapeake  Bay. 
The  battle  at  the  Brandywine  was  at  hand. 


67 


CHAPTER   VIII 

ON   THE   BRANDYWINE 

HAVING  learned  definitely  that  Howe  was 
to  attack  Philadelphia,  Washington  marched 
south  to  meet  him,  and  sent  Anthony  Wayne 
to  organize  the  Pennsylvania  militia  to  assist 
the  regular  army.  Wayne  did  this  work  in 
Chester  County,  because  that  county  lay  in 
the  direct  route  that  the  British  must  take. 
Wayne  was  in  his  home  county,  and  yet  on 
August  26th  he  was  obliged  to  write  this  to  his 
wife: 

"My  Dear  Girl — I  am  peremptorily  for 
bid  by  His  Excellency  to  leave  the  Army — 
My  case  is  hard.  I  am  obliged  to  do  the  duty 
of  three  General  Officers,  but  if  it  was  not  the 
case,  as  a  Gen'l  Officer  I  could  not  obtain  leave 
of  absence." 

Accordingly  he  begs  her  to  come  to  him 
the  next  day,  and  bring  their  two  children  (a 
son  and  a  daughter)  with  her.  One  may  no 
tice  here  in  passing  that  Wayne  almost  inva 
riably  addressed  his  wife  as  "My  Dear  Girl " 
68 


On  the  Brandywine 

or  "My  Dear  Polly."  Polly  was  a  pet  name, 
for  her  given  name  was  Mary. 

Washington,  in  the  meantime,  passed 
down  through  Philadelphia  (the  men  wearing 
"sprigs  of  green  in  their  hats  "  to  "give  them 
some  uniformity  "),  and  he  finally  camped  on 
the  easterly  side  of  Bed  Clay  Creek,  in  Dela 
ware.  The  camp  was  on  the  direct  line  from 
Elk  Ferry  to  Philadelphia.  Here  Wayne 
once  more  took  command  of  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Line  when  the  militia  had  been  organ 
ized. 

A  letter  written  by  Wayne  while  in  this 
camp  (September  2nd)  shows  very  well  his 
character  as  a  fighting  man.  It  was  written  to 
Washington  and  contains  these  paragraphs : 

"I  took  the  liberty  some  days  since  to  sug 
gest  the  selecting  2,500  or  3,000  of  our  best 
Armed  and  Most  Disciplined  troops,  who 
should  hold  themselves  in  Readiness  on  the 
approach  of  the  Enemy  to  make  a  Regular 
and  Vigorous  Assault  on  their  right  or  left 
flank — or  such  part  of  their  army  as  should 
then  be  thought  most  expedient — and  not  wait 
the  attack  from  them. 

"  This  Sir,  I  am  well  convinced  would  Sur 
prise  them  much — from  a  persuasion  that  you 
dare  not  leave  your  works.  It  would  totally 
69 


Anthony  Wayne 


stop  the  Other  part  from  advancing — and 
should  the  Attack  be  fortunate,  which  I  have 
not  the  least  doubt  of,  the  Enemy  would  have 
no  other  Alternative  than  to  Retreat." 

And  to  this  he  adds: 

"Should  I  be  happy  enough  to  meet  your 
Excellency  in  Opinion,  I  wish  to  be  of  the 
number  assigned  to  this  business." 

Anthony  Wayne  was  not  of  the  porcupine 
class  of  fighters. 

However,  Howe  had  15,000  effective  men 
where  the  Americans  numbered  but  11,000  at 
most,  including  militia,  and  Washington  de 
termined  (September  8th)  to  retreat  north  to 
Brandywine  Creek,  where  the  ground  was 
better  suited  for  defensive  work,  and  there 
make  his  final  stand. 

By  two  o'clock  next  morning  (9th),  the 
Americans  were  on  their  way,  and  by  night 
fall  they  were  encamped  on  the  northerly  side 
of  Brandywine. 

Brandywine  Creek  empties  into  the  Dela 
ware  Eiver  at  Wilmington,  Del.  Its  general 
course  is  nearly  southeast,  and  from  the 
mouth  at  Wilmington  up  to  the  forks  of  the 
west  and  east  branches,  the  distance  is  not  far 
from  twenty-two  miles.  The  American  camp 
was  made  on  the  northerly  side  of  this  creek. 

70 


On  the  Brandywine 

It  extended  from  Jones's  Ford  on  the  right  or 
up-stream  end  of  the  line,  down  to  Pyle's 
Ford  on  the  left,  a  distance  of  perhaps  two 
and  a 'half  miles.  But  the  main  road  over 
which  Howe  was  coming  crossed  the  stream 
at  Chadd's  Ford,  which  was  perhaps  half  a 
mile  from  Pyle's  Ford,  or  the  left  end  of  the 
American  line.  Another  ford,  called  Brin- 
ton's,  was  found  between  Chadd's  Ford  and 
the  American  right  at  Jones's  Ford,  and  the 
Americans  had  to  defend,  therefore,  four 
fords  —  Jones's,  Brinton's,  Chadd's,  and 
Pyle's. 

On  the  American  left,  at  Pyle's  Ford,  the 
stream  was  a  " roaring  torrent,"  and  the 
banks  extremely  precipitous  and  well  wooded. 
The  ground  below  this  was  still  more  rugged. 
This  ford  was  therefore  to  be  defended  eas 
ily,  and  Washington  placed  there  the  militia 
under  General  John  Armstrong. 

At  Chadd's  Ford,  as  said,  the  main  road 
from  the  south  crossed  the  creek,  and  it  was 
the  ford  that  could  be  most  readily  passed  by 
the  enemy.  Here,  in  the  post  of  honor, 
Wayne  was  stationed  with  his  Pennsylvania 
Line,  a  Virginia  regiment,  and  Proctor's  artil 
lery. 

Weedon's  and  Muhlenberg's  brigades, 
71 


Anthony  Wayne 


under  Major-General  Greene,  were  placed  on 
the  heights  behind  Wayne  as  a  reserve,  while 
the  right  wing,  that  was  to  cover  Brinton's 
and  Jones's  fords  up-stream,  was  under  the 
command  of  Major-General  Sullivan.  Max 
well's  light  infantry  (it  was  but  a  small  force) 
was  left  on  the  southerly  side  of  the  stream  to 
observe  and  annoy  the  enemy's  advance. 

While  it  is  not  necessary  to  describe  the 
battle  that  followed  in  all  its  details,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  Howe  divided  his  army 
and  sent  half  of  it,  under  General  Knyphau- 
sen,  to  Chadd's  Ford.  The  remainder,  under 
Lord  Cornwallis,  and  Howe  himself  marched 
up  the  valley  on  the  south  side  of  the  stream, 
crossed  the  forks,  and  came  down  upon  the 
rear  of  the  American  right  wing  under  Sul 
livan. 

While  waiting  for  Cornwallis  to  turn  the 
American  right,  Knyphausen  strove  only  to 
hold  Washington's  attention  by  false  moves. 
But  hearing  from  a  scout  that  the  British 
force  was  divided,  Washington  ordered  his 
army  to  charge  across  the  stream  to  force 
the  fighting. 

The  supreme  moment  of  the  battle  had 
come.  Led  by  Anthony  Wayne,  the  head  of 
the  American  column  was  already  splashing 
72 


On  the  Brandywine 

the  shallow  waters  of  the  ford,  and  victory 
was  within  their  grasp,  when  word  was  re 
ceived  from  Sullivan  that  the  report  of  a  Brit 
ish  column  going  above  the  forks  was  untrue, 
and  in  the  delay  which  this  message  caused 
the  opportunity  for  a  decisive  victory  slipped 
away. 

Cornwallis,  with  his  7,000  men,  drove  the 
American  right  flank  down  toward  the  center. 
Washington  sent  Greene  with  the  reserves  to 
aid  Sullivan,  and  then  Knyphausen  came 
down  to  Chadd's  Ford,  this  time  with  full  de 
termination  to  cross. 

He  had  7,000  men  at  least  with  which  to 
attack  the  Americans,  and  it  included  Major 
Patrick  Ferguson's  corps  of  riflemen,  with 
their  breech-loaders.  Knyphausen's  force 
was  superior  in  numbers  to  Wayne's,  and 
they  were  all  well-disciplined  soldiers,  while 
the  greater  part  of  Wayne's  men  were  raw 
recruits  and  militia  who  had  never  been  under 
fire.  Nevertheless,  Wayne  held  his  ground- 
held  the  post  of  honor — from  two  o'clock  un 
til  the  sun  went  down  (after  six  o'clock),  and 
then  he  retreated  only  when  he  learned  posi 
tively  that  a  division  of  Cornwallis's  victorious 
force  was  coming  to  attack  him  in  the  rear. 
He  retreated  in  order  to  avoid  being  sur- 
<5  73 


Anthony  Wayne 


rounded,  and  he  did  it  in  such  good  order  that 
he  was  not  interrupted. 

Says  Colonel  James  Chambers,  of  the 
First  Pennsylvania,  in  a  letter  describing  the 
retreat : 

"The  general  [Wayne]  sent  orders  for  our 
artillery  to  retreat,  and  ordered  me  to  cover 
it  with  a  part  of  my  regiment.  It  was  done, 
but  to  my  surprise  the  artillerymen  had  run 
and  left  the  howitzer  behind.  The  two  [field] 
pieces  went  up  the  road  protected  by  about 
sixty  of  my  men,  who  had  very  warm  work, 
but  brought  them  safe.  I  then  ordered  an 
other  party  to  fly  to  the  howitzer  and  bring  it 
off.  Captain  Buchanan,  Lieutenant  Simp 
son,  and  Lieutenant  Douglass  went  immedi 
ately  to  the  gun,  and  the  men  following  their 
example,  I  covered  them  with  the  few  I  had 
remaining.  But  before  this  could  be  done  the 
main  body  of  the  foe  came  within  thirty 
yards,  and  kept  up  the  most  terrible  fire  ever 
heard  in  America,  though  with  very  little  loss 
on  our  side.  I  brought  all  the  brigade  artil 
lery  safely  off,  and  I  hope  to  see  them  again 
fire  at  the  scoundrels.  We  retreated  to  the 
next  height  in  good  order  in  the  midst  of  a 
very  heavy  fire  of  cannon  and  small  arms. 
Not  thirty  yards  distant  we  formed  to  re- 
74 


On  the  Brandywine 

ceive  them,  but  they  did  not  choose  to  fol 
low." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  these  guns  mentioned 
here  were  actually  in  the  possession  of  the 
enemy  when  Colonel  Chambers  went  after 
them,  and  Howe's  official  despatch  mentions 
the  capture.  But  he  makes  no  mention  of  the 
gallant  force  that  Wayne  sent  to  retake  them 
— with  entire  success. 

The  Americans  were  driven  from  their  po 
sition,  but  they  were  not  routed.  They  passed 
the  night  at  Chester — a  retreat  of  twelve 
miles — but  "Washington  testified  that  his 
army  was  "in  good  spirits  and  nowise  dis 
heartened  by  the  recent  affair,  which  it 
seemed  to  consider  as  a  check  rather  than  a 
defeat." 

The  American  loss  in  killed  and  wounded 
and  prisoners  was  not  far  from  1,000.  The 
British  admitted  a  loss  of  579,  but  by  "rolls 
afterward  captured  at  Germantown,  it  ap 
peared  that  their  loss  exceeded  that  of  the 
Americans"  (Fiske). 


75 


CHAPTER   IX 

ATTACKED   IN   THE    NIGHT 

ON  the  next  morning  (September  12, 
1777),  after  the  battle  of  the  Brandy  wine, 
Washington  retreated  from  Chester  up  to 
Philadelphia,  and  went  thence  to  German- 
town,  where  he  rested  his  men  during  the 
13th.  On  the  14th,  finding  his  men  quite  will 
ing  to  meet  the  British  once  more,  he  re- 
crossed  to  the  westerly  side  of  the  Schuylkill 
at  Conshohocken,  and  taking  the  Lancaster 
road,  went  in  search  of  Howe.  The  British, 
meantime,  had  marched  to  the  north  and  west 
to  reach  some  of  the  fords  of  the  Schuylkill, 
where  they  might  hope  to  cross  unmolested. 
In  spite  of  his  superior  force,  Howe  had  not 
been  anxious  to  overtake  Washington's  re 
treating  army,  or  even  to  meet  it  in  another 
battle  where  fords  were  to  be  fought  for.  It 
was  by  such  action  that  General  Howe  ex 
pressed  his  opinion  of  the  American  army. 
And  by  hunting  the  British  Washington  ex 
pressed  his  opinion. 

On  the  16th  the  two  armies  met  near 
76 


Attacked  in  the  Night 

the  Warren  tavern,  which  was  22  miles 
from  Philadelphia,  on  the  Lancaster  road. 
To  Wayne  was  given  the  honor  of  leading  in 
the  attack,  and  his  skirmishers  were  already 
firing  on  the  enemy's  advanced  line  under 
Lord  Cornwallis,  when  a  rain-storm  that  was 
so  furious  as  to  stop  the  combat  came  on.  For 
twenty-four  hours  the  furious  rainfall  con 
tinued — a  genuine  cyclone  was  working  up 
the  coast. 

How  the  battle  would  have  terminated 
had  no  rain  fallen,  it  is  idle  to  conjecture,  but 
every  patriot  who  can  share  in  Wayne's  en 
thusiasm  will  regret  the  storm.  Moreover, 
the  rain  destroyed  the  entire  supply  of  ammu 
nition  in  the  American  camp,  and  Washington 
was  obliged  to  retreat.  He  reached  Warwick, 
on  French  Creek  (west  of  Phenixville),  dur 
ing  the  17th,  and  from  thence  marched  north 
to  Parker's  Ford  (Lawrenceville,  Pa.),  at  the 
mouth  of  Pigeon  Creek,  where  he  arrived  on 
September  19th. 

Meantime,  while  at  Warwick,  he  detached 
Wayne,  with  from  1,200  to  1,500  men  and  4 
field-pieces,  to  fall  in  the  rear  of  the  British 
army  and  try  to  cut  off  their  baggage-train 
or  do  whatever  would  most  annoy  them,  so 
that  they  could  not  reach  the  Schuylkill  until 
77 


Anthony  Wayne 


after  Washington  should  have  time  to  cross, 
and  with  a  renewed  supply  of  ammunition 
meet  them  at  the  fords. 

Accordingly,  on  September  18th,  Wayne 
took  post  to  the  south  of  and  between  the  War 
ren  and  the  Paoli  taverns.  The  spot  is  within 
half  a  mile  of  Malvern  station  on  the  Penn 
sylvania  Eailroad  now,  and  it  is  conspicu 
ously  marked  by  a  monument.  The  British 
camp  was  four  miles  away  to  the  northeast, 
and  Wayne  was  expecting  General  William 
Smallwood,  who  had  1,850  militia  at  the 
White  Horse  tavern,  on  the  Lancaster  road, 
a  few  miles  west  of  the  Warren  tavern,  to  join 
him.  Wayne  fully  comprehended  that  he  was 
on  a  dangerous  mission,  but  he  had  such  faith 
in  his  men  that  he  even  contemplated  an  as 
sault  on  the  enemy  single-banded,  when  a 
favoring  moment  should  come. 

At  seven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Sep 
tember  19th  he  wrote  to  Washington  to  say : 

"On  the  enemy's  beating  the  reveille,  I 
ordered  the  troops  under  arms,  and  began  our 
march  for  their  left  flank,  but  when  we  ar 
rived  within  a  half  a  mile  of  their  encamp 
ment  found  they  had  not  stirred,  but  lay  too 
compact  to  admit  of  attack  with  prudence. 
Indeed  their  supineness  answers  every  pur- 
78 


Attacked  in  the  Night 

pose  of  giving  you  time  to  get  up.  If  they  at 
tempt  to  move  I  shall  attack  them  at  all 
events.  .  .  .  There  never  was  nor  never  will 
be  a  finer  opportunity  of  giving  the  enemy  a 
fatal  blow  than  the  present.  For  God's  sake 
push  on  as  soon  as  possible." 

At  ten  o'clock  he  wrote  again  to  say  that 
the  "enemy  are  very  quiet,  washing  and  cook 
ing,"  and  that  he  looked  for  them  to  move  to 
ward  evening.  Maxwell  was  on  their  east 
flank  and  Wayne  on  their  west,  and  with  this 
in  mind  he  said  to  Washington,  "we  only  want 
you  in  their  rear  to  complete  Mr.  Howe's  bus 
iness."  By  rear  he  meant  on  the  north  side. 
He  added  that  he  believed  the  enemy  knew 
nothing  of  his  situation,  but  he  was  mistaken. 
A  Tory  had  given  General  Howe  full  details 
of  the  number  of  Wayne's  force,  and  an  ac 
curate  description  of  the  camp.  And  on  the 
night  of  the  20th  a  British  force  twice  as  large 
as  Wayne's  was  sent  to  take  him  by  surprise. 

In  the  meantime  Wayne  had  heard  that 
Howe  was  to  march  for  the  Schuylkill  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  21st.  An  offi 
cer  was  immediately  sent  to  bring  up  Small- 
wood's  militia,  and  every  preparation  was 
made  to  dash  among  the  British  during  the 
confusion  of  breaking  camp.  The  sick  of 
79 


Anthony  Wayne 


Wayne's  command  appear  to  have  lodged  in 
rude  huts  (wigwams  one  writer  calls  them), 
and  it  is  certain  that  some  of  the  well  men 
sneaked  into  these;  but  the  force  as  a  whole 
lay  down  with  their  arms  in  hand  and  in  such 
a  position  that  at  the  call  they  would  find 
themselves  in  line  as  soon  as  they  arose  to 
their  feet. 

Between  nine  and  ten  o'clock  that  night 
one  of  Wayne's  neighbors  (Wayne's  house 
was  less  than  two  miles  away),  brought  third- 
hand  information  that  a  British  detachment 
was  coming  to  attack  the  American  camp. 
Wayne  at  once  sent  out  extra  pickets,  inclu 
ding  a  number  of  mounted  men.  He  then  al 
lowed  his  men  to  continue  sleeping,  for  he 
was  looking  for  Smallwood  to  arrive  at  any 
minute,  when  he  meant  to  assume  the  offen 
sive  ;  and  he  had  confidence  in  the  vigilance  of 
his  pickets. 

Unfortunately,  however,  Smallwood  failed 
to  arrive,  while  the  British,  under  General 
Grey,  came  on,  silently  bayoneting  such  pick 
ets  as  they  met,  until  so  near  the  camp  that 
when  the  alarm  was  given  the  sleeping  Amer 
icans  were  aroused  by  the  cry: 

"Up,  men!  the  British  are  upon  you." 

"Dash  on,  light  infantry!"  shouted  Gen- 
80 


Attacked  in  the  Night 

eral  Grey  to  his  men,  and  with  bayonets  ready 
they  charged  the  American  camp,  assisted  by 
a  regiment  of  light  dragoons  who  had  sword 
in  hand. 

Though  many  of  his  men  were  asleep, 
Wayne  himself  was  awake  and  alert.  As  the 
alarm  was  heard  Wayne  mounted  his  horse, 
and  the  sleeping  men  rose  up  in  line.  Then 
ordering  Colonel  Richard  Humpton  (second 
in  command)  to  wheel  the  men  by  subplatoons 
into  column  and  march  away  toward  the 
northwest  (on  the  route  by  which  Smallwood 
was  coming),  Wayne  spurred  over  to  the 
right  of  his  line,  where,  with  the  light  infantry 
and  the  First  Pennsylvania  Regiment,  he 
strove  to  cover  the  retreat. 

As  Wayne  rode  away,  Humpton  wheeled 
his  men  into  column  and  sent  off  the  artillery, 
but  it  was  not  until  Wayne  had  sent  him  or 
ders  for  the  third  time  to  march  off  that  he 
did  so.  And  then,  when  he  did  march  away, 
he  led  the  column  between  the  camp-fires  and 
the  coming  British,  and  thus  showed  the 
enemy  where  to  strike. 

As  the  British  became  visible  (and  the  dis 
tance  was  "not  more  than  Ten  Yards  "), 
Wayne  gave  them  a  volley,  and  then  fell  back 
"a  Little  Distance,"  when  he  formed  a  front 
81 


Anthony  Wayne 


to  oppose  them,  but  "they  did  not  think  pru 
dent  to  push  matters  further." 

They  had  found  a  considerable  number  of 
sick  men  in  the  camp,  and  there  were  strag 
glers  who  had  failed  to  get  into  line  promptly 
when  the  alarm  carne.  These  sick  and  strag 
gling  men  were  mercilessly  bayoneted  by  the 
British.  The  British  authorities  on  the  bat 
tle  make  no  effort  to  conceal  the  fact  that 
Grey's  force  was  determined  to  massacre  the 
Americans. 

"The  light  infantry  bayonetted  every  man 
they  came  up  with,"  says  the  diary  of  Lieu 
tenant  Hunter,  of  the  Fifty-second  British 
Eegiment.  "The  light  infantry  being  ordered 
to  form  the  front,  rushed  along  the  line,  put 
ting  to  the  bayonet  all  they  came  up  with,  and, 
overtaking  the  main  herd  of  fugitives,  stabbed 
great  numbers,"  says  Games'  Mercury. 

"What  a  running  about  barefoot,  and  half 
clothed,  and  in  the  light  of  their  own  fires! 
...  I  stuck  them  myself  like  so  many  pigs, 
one  after  another,  until  the  blood  ran  out  of 
the  touch-hole  of  my  musket,"  said  a  Hessian 
sergeant,  in  boasting  of  his  work  that  night. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  British  ac 
counts  all  exaggerate  the  extent  of  the  British 
cruelty.  Grey  certainly  gave  orders  to  give  no 
82 


Attacked  in  the  Night 

quarter,  but  instead  of  butchering  from  200  to 
460,  as  the  various  British  accounts  assert, 
the  exact  number  killed  was  63.  Seventy  pris 
oners  were  taken  alive,  and  of  these  40,  who 
were  badly  wounded,  were  left  at  various 
houses  along  the  road  when  Grey  returned  to 
the  main  army.  The  British  lost  3  killed  and 
6  wounded.  This  fight  is  called  the  massacre 
of  Paoli,  because  Wayne  was  camped  near  the 
Paoli  tavern. 

It  is  worth  noting  that  while  Grey  was 
charging  the  American  camp  a  detachment  of 
the  British  force  surrounded  Wayne's  home. 
They  supposed  that  they  would  find  Wayne 
at  home,  as  a  matter  of  course.  They  "be 
haved  with  the  utmost  politeness  to  the 
women,"  and  "they  did  not  disturb  the  least 
article."  Such  unusual  conduct  on  the  part 
of  British  raiders  in  that  war  is  memo 
rable. 

General  Smallwood's  militia  were  met  a 
mile  away  toward  the  White  Horse  tavern, 
but  the  militiamen  were  so  greatly  alarmed 
by  the  sight  of  Wayne's  retreating  command 
that  they  could  not  be  coaxed  or  driven  into  a 
pursuit  of  Grey's  regulars.  As  to  the  Penn- 
sylvanians,  Wayne  wrote  at  noon  of  the  21st : 

"It  will  not  be  in  our  power  to  render  you 
83 


Anthony  Wayne 


such  service  as  I  could  wish,  but  all  that  can, 
you  may  Depend  on  being  done." 

It  is  agreed  by  military  critics  that 
Wayne's  orders  that  night  were  right  for  the 
occasion,  and  that  his  coolness  and  prompt 
decision  as  to  what  should  be  done  saved  his 
command  from  annihilation.  But  it  was 
charged  in  Washington's  army  that  Wayne 
had  been  negligent  and  thus  had  allowed  his 
command  to  be  surprised.  Curiously  enough, 
Colonel  Humpton  was  active  in  supporting 
this  charge.  Wayne  instantly  demanded  a 
court-martial.  The  court  was  granted.  After 
a  patient  hearing  of  the  prosecution,  in  which 
Colonel  Humpton  took  the  lead,  the  evidence 
showed  that  the  great  part  of  the  American 
loss  was  due  to  Humpton's  failure  to  obey 
Wayne's  first  order,  and  the  court  unani 
mously  decided  that  Wayne  was  "not  guilty 
of  the  charge  exhibited  against  him,  but  that 
he,  on  the  night  of  the  20th  of  September  last, 
did  every  duty  that  could  be  expected  from 
an  active,  brave  and  vigilant  officer,  under 
the  orders  which  he  then  had." 


CHAPTER   X 

A   BATTLE    IN   A   FOG 

'As  Wayne  had  learned  they  would  do,  the 
British  broke  camp  on  the  morning  of  Sep 
tember  21,  1777,  and  made  a  march  up  the 
southerly  side  of  the  Schuylkill,  on  the  road 
leading  to  Reading,  as  if  bound  for  that  city, 
where  the  Americans  had  large  quantities  of 
supplies.  Washington,  being  on  the  north 
erly  side  of  the  river,  kept  pace  with  them, 
but  on  the  night  of  the  22d  Howe  left  his 
camp-fire  burning  and  marched  down  the 
Driver  to  Flatland  Ford  (just  below  Valley 
Forge),  and  there  crossed  to  the  northerly 
side  of  the  river. 

By  this  strategic  move — without  risking  a 
battle — Howe  had  placed  himself  between 
Washington  and  Philadelphia,  and  the  road 
to  the  American  capital  city  was  open  before 
him.  But  one  can  not  help  noting  here  that  a 
British  general  has  but  rarely  been  known  to 
dodge  an  enemy  of  inferior  force  in  such  fash 
ion  as  this. 

85 


Anthony  Wayne 


From  the  ford  Howe  marched  to  German- 
town,  a  long  straggling  village,  then  a  few 
miles  north  of  Philadelphia,  and  from  that 
point  sent  Cornwallis  to  take  possession  of 
Philadelphia,  to  capture  the  forts  below  the 
city,  and  to  remove  the  obstructions  on  which 
the  Americans  had  relied  to  stop  the  advance 
of  the  British  fleet.  It  was  necessary  for  the 
British  to  open  free  communication  with  their 
fleet  if  they  were  to  hold  Philadelphia,  for  if 
they  did  not  do  so,  they  would  simply  starve 
in  the  city  they  had  come  to  take. 

In  detaching  men  for  this  purpose,  how 
ever,  Howe  weakened  the  army  at  German- 
town,  and  Washington,  who  had  been  joined 
by  Wayne  and  Smallwood,  called  his  generals 
together  (September  28th),  and  asked  them  if 
it  would  not  be  good  policy  to  attack  the  Brit 
ish  at  Germantown.  There  were  fourteen  of 
these  generals,  Lafayette  being  among  the 
number.  Ten  of  the  fourteen,  having  no  con 
fidence  in  the  untrained  men  of  the  American 
forces,  urged  Washington  to  wait  for  reen- 
forcements  from  the  north,  but  Wayne,  Small- 
wood,  Scott,  and  Porter  had  faith  in  their 
men,  and  spoke  for  an  immediate  attack. 

"Our  army  is  full  of  health  and  spirits," 
wrote  Wayne  in  a  letter  to  his  wife  at  this 
86 


A  Battle  in  a  Fog 

time  (September  30th),  "and  far  stronger 
than  it  was  at  the  Battle  of  Brandywine." 

Washington  was  similarly  hopeful,  and 
between  September  29th  and  October  3d  he 
moved  his  army  from  its  camp  between  the 
Perkiomen  and  Shippack  Creeks  down  to 
within  striking  distance  of  the  enemy,  in  or 
der  to  attack  at  daylight  the  morning  of  Oc 
tober  4th. 

Germantown  in  those  days  consisted  of  a 
single  street  (running  somewhere  near  north 
and  south),  that  was  lined  on  each  side  for  a 
distance  of  two  miles  by  stone  houses  stand 
ing  close  to  the  street,  and  perhaps  a  hundred 
yards  apart.  Between  the  houses  were  stout 
fences,  some  of  stone  and  some  of  wood,  that 
extended  back  for  several  hundred  yards,  en 
closing  gardens  and  fields. 

A  little  south  of  the  middle  of  this  long 
single-street  village  was  a  road  that  crossed 
the  main  street  at  right  angles.  On  the  east 
side  of  the  main  street  this  cross-road  was 
called  Church  Lane;  on  the  west  it  was 
called  Old  School  Lane.  At  the  corners  stood 
the  market  and  a  German  Reformed  church. 
And  just  south  of  this  cross-road  was  camped 
the  British  army.  The  right  wing  lay  east  of 
the  Germantown  road,  and  was  under  General 
87 


Anthony  Wayne 


Grant  (he  who  had  said  he  could  inarch 
through  America  with  5,000  men).  The  left 
wing  lay  to  the  west,  and  was  commanded  by 
Knyphausen,  while  on  the  extreme  left,  and 
near  the  Schuylkill  River,  was  a  detachment 
of  light  troops  under  General  Grey. 

The  market-house  at  the  corners  was  just 
five  miles  north  of  Philadelphia.  A  mile 
above  (north  of)  the  market-house  was  an 
other  cross-road  leading  to  Abington,  now 
Washington.  This  cross-road  marked  the 
north  limit  of  Germantown.  In  the  northeast 
corner  of  this  cross  stood  a  large  mansion, 
the  property  of  Benjamin  Chew,  formerly  a 
chief  justice  of  the  colony.  In  a  field  near 
this  house  was  camped  a  British  regiment 
under  Colonel  Musgrave. 

The  rows  of  houses  lined  the  main  street 
still  farther  north,  but  that  part  of  the  settle 
ment  was  known  as  Beggarstown  and  Beck 
ers  Town.  A  mile  north  of  Chew's  house  was 
a  hill  known  as  Mount  Airy,  and  here  was  a 
battalion  of  light  infantry  that  had  formed 
a  part  of  the  command  under  General  Grey 
when  he  stormed  Wayne's  camp,  near  the 
Paoli  tavern. 

In  planning  an  attack  on  the  British, 
Washington  divided  his  forces  into  four  col- 

88 


A  Battle  in  a  Fog 

umns.  General  Armstrong,  with  his  Penn 
sylvania  militia,  was  sent  over  to  a  road  near 
the  Schuylkill  to  pass  around  and  attack 
the  extreme  left  (west)  flank  of  the  British 
line.  General  Greene,  with  three  brigades, 
was  sent  over  to  the  east  as  far  as  the  Lime 
Kiln  road,  a  road  that  ran  southerly  to  the 
British  right  wing,  which  Greene  was  to 
attack. 

The  main  or  center  column  was  composed 
of  the  divisions  under  Sullivan  and  Wayne, 
with  Conway's  brigade  in  advance,  and  Max- 
welFs  and  Nash's  in  the  rear,  the  whole  be 
ing  under  the  command  of  Sullivan. 

The  Americans  left  their  camp  on  the 
evening  of  October  3,  1777,  and  after  a  weari 
some  march  over  a  rough  road,  reached  at 
daylight  Chestnut  Hill,  a  mile  north  of  Mount 
Airy.  A  detachment  was  then  sent  forward 
(it  was  a  dark,  foggy  morning)  to  bayonet 
the  sentries  posted  by  the  light  infantry  at 
Mount  Airy,  and  this  was  done,  but  not 
swiftly  enough  to  prevent  an  alarm. 

Two  6-pounders  were  fired  immediately 
after  the  first  outcry,  "and  so  much  had  we  all 
Wayne's  affair  in  our  remembrance,  that  the 
battalion  were  out  and  under  arms  in  a  min 
ute,"  as  one  of  them  wrote. 
7  89 


Anthony  Wayne 


They  had  need  to  make  haste,  for  Sullivan 
and  Wayne  were  on  the  heels  of  the  advance 
detachment,  and  no  sooner  were  the  two 
forces  in  sight  of  each  other  than  the  Amer 
icans  raised  the  cry,  "Have  at  the  blood 
hounds  !  Revenge  Wayne's  affair !  " 

The  light  infantry  were  overwhelmed,  and 
they  fled,  with  Wayne's  men  chasing  the 
larger  part  of  them  from  fence  to  fence  down 
the  east  side  of  the  main  road,  while  Sullivan 
followed  those  that  fled  down  the  west  side  of 
the  road.  In  due  time  the  regiment  under 
Colonel  Musgrave  was  reached.  It  had  come 
marching  up  to  support  the  light  infantry,  but 
it  was  quickly  overwhelmed,  and  in  part  sur 
rounded,  when  to  save  their  lives,  or  sell 
them  dear,  six  companies  took  refuge  in 
Chew's  house. 

Sullivan  and  Wayne  then  swept  on  in  pur 
suit  of  the  retreating  enemy.  The  Pennsyl- 
vanians  were  especially  eager. 

"They  pushed  on  with  the  bayonet,  and 
took  ample  vengeance  for  that  Night's  Work," 
wrote  Wayne.  "The  Rage  and  Fury  of  the 
men  was  not  to  be  Restrained."  Even  when 
Howe  came  up  and  shouted  to  his  men,  "For 
shame,  light  infantry!  I  never  saw  you  re 
treat  before,"  he  could  not  stop  them,  and  was 
90 


A  Battle  in  a  Fog 

himself  obliged  to  ride  hastily  back  to  his" 
main  line. 

But  as  the  men  of  the  American  reserve, 
under  Maxwell  and  Nash,  came  up,  the  Brit 
ish  in  Chew's  house  fired  on  them,  and  Gen 
eral  Henry  Knox  (he  who  was  afterward  Sec 
retary  of  War)  thought  it  necessary  to  stop 
a  whole  brigade  in  order  to  carry  the  stone 
house  in  which  the  six  companies  of  British 
soldiers  had  taken  refuge.  To  leave  that 
house  full  of  the  enemy  might  endanger  the 
whole  American  army  of  11,000  men,  he 
thought,  and  his  rank  enabled  him  to  gather 
a  force  about  the  house,  and  spend  a  half 
hour  of  the  most  valuable  time  of  the  day  in 
a  vain  effort  to  carry  it.  Wayne,  in  disgust, 
wrote  of  Knox's  effort  as  "a  Wind  Mill  (i.  e., 
Don  Quixote)  attack."  Knox  finally  left  a 
regiment  to  guard  the  house,  as  should  have 
been  done  in  the  first  place,  and  marched  on ; 
but  he  was  then  too  late. 

For  in  the  meantime  Sullivan  and  Wayne 
had  driven  the  light  infantry  home  to  the 
main  British  line,  and  had  made  a  successful 
attack  on  the  British  center.  Washington 
himself  here  took  the  lead  and  dashed  in 
among  the  enemy.  As  the  British  gave  way 
before  the  impetuous  Americans  at  the  center, 

91 


Anthony  Wayne 


Greene  charged  in  on  the  British  right,  and 
forced  it  back.  "Tumult,  disorder  and  even 
despair  "  appeared  in  the  British  line.  Howe 
admitted  a  defeat,  appointed  Chester  as  a  ren 
dezvous  for  his  broken  forces,  and  2,000  of 
Knyphausen's  Hessians  crossed  the  Schuyl- 
kill  on  their  way  thither. 

"We  had  full  possession  of  the  enemy's 
camp,  which  was  on  fire  in  several  places," 
wrote  Colonel  Lacy,  and  yet  when  victory  was 
within  their  grasp  the  Americans  suddenly 
began  to  retreat. 

The  origin  of  the  trouble  was  in  the  divi 
sions  of  the  Americans  into  four  separate  col 
umns  for  an  assault  in  the  fog.  It  was  well 
to  get  rid  of  the  militia,  perhaps,  by  sending 
them  off  to  turn  the  flanks  of  the  enemy,  if 
they  could  do  so.  For  the  main  attack,  how 
ever,  Napoleon  would  have  kept  Greene's  men 
in  the  main  column,  and  then  would  have  sent 
his  whole  mass  in  column  down  to  and 
through  the  British  line.  Then  he  would  have 
taken  the  two  parts,  one  at  a  time,  and  would 
have  annihilated  them.  The  single-column 
attack  was  all  the  more  desirable  because  so 
many  of  the  Americans  were  raw  recruits. 
Nevertheless,  Washington's  plan  was  excel 
lent  for  that  age  (as  were  all  of  his  disposi- 
92 


A  Battle  in  a  Fog 

tions  of  troops),  and  it  would  have  succeeded 
but  for  the  fact  that  the  stupid  Knox  thought 
it  necessary  to  stop  and  batter  a  stone  dwell 
ing  in  the  midst  of  an  attack  where  success 
depended  wholly  on  an  uninterrupted  swoop 
into  the  enemy's  line.  By  his  attack  on  the 
Chew  house  so  much  noise  was  made  that  a 
part  of  Greene's  men  (a  brigade  under  Ste 
phen)  were  diverted  from  the  main  attack, 
and  while  marching  through  the  fog  in  search 
of  the  enemy's  flank  fell  upon  the  flank  of 
Wayne's  division. 

Wayne's  men  had  been  chasing  the  British 
for  more  than  two  miles  and  were  weary. 
Stephen's  men  had  had  no  fighting  and  were 
eager.  Their  fire  took  Wayne's  men  in  the 
rear  as  well  as  the  flank,  and  being  wholly 
unexpected,  it  threw  the  Pennsylvanians  into 
disorder.  Though  Wayne  stormed  to  and 
fro  to  stop  them,  they  fled  away  until  another 
brigade  behind  them  was  thrown  into  con 
fusion,  and  then  the  main  line,  under  Wash 
ington  and  Sullivan,  was  forced  to  fall 
back. 

When  the  Americans  turned,  the  British, 

being  veterans  and  well  disciplined,  quickly 

rallied.    Grey,  with  his  chasseurs,  then  came 

from  the  extreme  left  to  support  the  British 

93 


Anthony  Wayne 


right,  and  was  able  to  charge  in  on  the  falter 
ing  Americans  and  keep  them  going. 

Cornwallis,  who  had  heard  the  cannon 
while  yet  in  bed  at  Philadelphia,  came  up 
with  reenforcements  on  the  run,  and  joined 
in  the  pursuit,  and  they  followed  the  Amer 
icans  to  White  Marsh  Church,  several  miles 
north  of  Germantown. 

Here,  however,  the  pursuit  came  to  an  end. 
Wayne  had  at  last  overcome  the  panic  of  his 
men,  and  with  the  brigade  that  had  been  un 
der  General  Stephen  added,  a  stand  was 
made  "in  order  to  collect  stragglers  from  the 
army"  as  Wayne  reported  to  Washington. 
Wayne  was  repeating  here  the  work  he  did 
after  the  failure  at  Three  Rivers. 

As  the  stragglers  came  in,  the  enemy  ap 
peared  with  a  troop  of  light  horsemen  and 
1,500  infantry.  The  main  body  of  the  Amer 
icans  was  ordered  off,  but  Wayne  remained 
behind  to  cover  the  retreat.  Posting  some 
cannon  on  a  low  hill,  he  supported  them  with 
"some  infantry  and  Colonel  Eland's  dra 
goons  "  until  the  enemy  "were  induced  to  re 
tire  back  over  the  ridge  and  give  up  further 
pursuit." 

The  Americans  carried  away  all  their  own 
cannon  and  a  number  taken  from  the  British, 

94: 


A  Battle  in  a  Fog 

and  they  retreated  in  good  order.  The  Amer 
ican  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  was  673 ;  the 
British,  by  their  own  accounts,  535,  but  Gor 
don's  History  of  the  American  Revolution 
says,  "They  (the  Loyal  Army)  suffered  prob 
ably  more  than  they  allowed." 

Wayne  was  among  those  slightly  wounded. 

The  chagrin  of  the  American  officers  over 
the  retreat  was  great.  Washington  wrote  to 
Congress  saying:  "Our  troops  retreated  at 
the  instant  when  victory  was  declaring  herself 
in  our  favor.  The  tumult,  disorder,  and  even 
despair,  which  it  seems  had  taken  place  in  the 
British  army,  were  scarcely  to  be  paralleled ; 
and  it  is  said  that  so  strongly  did  the  ideas 
of  retreat  prevail,  that  Chester  was  fixed  on 
for  their  rendezvous." 

Says  Captain  Heth,  of  Virginia:  "What 
makes  this  inglorious  flight  more  grating  to 
us  is  that  we  know  the  enemy  had  orders  to 
retreat,  and  rendezvous  at  Chester,  and  that 
upwards  of  two  thousand  Hessians  had  actu 
ally  crossed  the  Schuylkill  for  that  purpose ; 
that  the  Tories  were  in  the  utmost  distress 
and  moving  out  of  the  city ;  that  our  friends 
confined  in  the  new  jail  made  it  ring  with 
shouts  of  joy;  that  we  passed  in  pursuing 
them  upwards  of  twenty  pieces  of  cannon, 

95 


Anthony  Wayne 

their  tents  standing  filled  with  their  choicest 
baggage ;  in  fine  every  thing  was  as  we  could 
wish  when  the  flight  took  place." 

But  here  again,  as  usual,  we  get  a  glimpse 
of  Wayne's  mind  that  is  cheering.  For  while 
others  were  complaining,  he  writes  to  "Dear 
Polly  " — his  wife — and  says,  "upon  the  whole 
it  was  a  glorious  day.  Our  men  are  in  high 
spirits,  and  I  am  confident  that  we  shall  give 
them  a  total  defeat  in  the  next  action." 


96 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  CONDITIONS  AFTER  THE  BATTLE  OF 
GERMANTOWN 

HAVING  by  good  luck  held  his  own  at 
Germantown,  the  British  general  turned  his 
attention  to  the  reduction  of  the  American 
defenses  below  Philadelphia  in  order  to  open 
communication  with  the  British  fleet.  The 
Americans  had  a  fleet  of  small  armed  vessels 
under  Commodore  Hazlewood,  and  they  yet 
occupied  two  forts,  Fort  Mercer  at  Bed  Bank, 
opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Schuylkill — that  is, 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Delaware — and  Fort 
Mifflin  on  Mud  Island,  just  below  the  mouth 
of  the  Schuylkill  and  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Delaware.  The  guns  of  these  forts  covered 
several  lines  of  submarine  obstructions  made 
of  heavy  timbers  that  were  likely  to  pierce 
and  sure  to  stop  any  ship  sailed  against  them. 
An  attempt  was  made  by  the  British  to  carry 
Mercer  by  assault  (October  22d),  but  it  failed, 
and  then  Howe  constructed  batteries  on  Prov 
ince  Island  within  500  yards  of  Fort  Mifflin. 

97 


Anthony  Wayne 


Aided  by  this  fort  the  British,  after  a 
siege  of  six  weeks,  took  Fort  Mifflin  (Novem 
ber  10th),  and  thus  opened  the  river.  In  con 
nection  with  the  surrender  of  Fort  Mifflin 
Wayne  wrote  (November  18,  1777)  to  Eich- 
ard  Peters,  Secretary  of  War : 

"Six  weeks'  investiture  and  no  attempt  to 
raise  the  siege  of  that  fort,  will  scarcely  be 
credited  at  an  other  day. 

"Whenever  that  subject  was  mentioned 
new  difficulties  were  always  raised  sufficient 
to  prevent  any  measures  being  taken  for  that 
purpose,  until  his  Excellency,  seeing  the  Ab 
solute  necessity  of  making  every  possible  ef 
fort  to  effect  so  desirable  an  object,  ordered 
some  (rent'n  in  whom  he  could  confide  to  re 
connoitre  the  ground  in  the  vicinity  of  Prov 
ince  Island.  ...  On  their  return  a  Council 
was  held.  The  practicability  as  well  as  the 
immediate  necessity  of  raising  the  Siege  was 
urged  in  the  most  clear  and  pointed  terms. 
The  measure  was  again  overruled  [by  vote], 
but  His  Excellency  had  determined  to  act  the 
General.  The  army  was  to  have  passed  the 
Schulkill  and  taken  post  near  the  middle 
ferry  (Market  street),  whilst  my  Division 
with  Morgan's  corps  were  to  proceed  to  Prov 
ince  Island,  and  there  storm  the  enemy's 
98 


After  the  Battle  of  Germantown 

lines,  spike  their  cannon  and  Ruin  their 
works. 

"There  was  some  Difficulty  as  well  as 
Danger  in  the  Attempt,  but  the  success  de 
pended  more  on  the  fortitude  of  the  Troops 
than  upon  Numbers.  His  excellency  had 
charged  me  with  the  Conduct  and  execution 
of  this  business.  I  knew  my  troops  &  glad 
ly  Embraced  the  command,  but  the  Evacua 
tion  of  that  important  fortress  the  evening 
preceding  the  day  on  which  the  storm  was 
to  have  taken  place  frustrated  an  expe 
dition  which  afforded  the  most  flattering 
prospect." 

Wayne  then  expresses  the  opinion  that 
"the  surest  way  to  do  nothing  "  is  to  call  a 
council,  and  concludes  the  paragraph  by  the 
assertion  that  "there  has  been  more  than  one 
instance  of  the  truth  of  this  observation  dur 
ing  this  campaign." 

Three  letters  in  like  vein  were  written 
by  Wayne  to  General  Washington.  In  the 
one  dated  November  25th,  he  says:  "I  am 
solemnly  and  clearly  of  Opinion;  that  the 
Credit  of  the  army  under  your  Command,  the 
Safety  of  the  Country,  the  Honor  of  the 
American  Arms,  the  Approach  of  winter  that 
must  in  a  few  days  force  you  from  the  field. 
99 


Anthony  Wayne 

and  above  all  the  depreciation  of  the  Currency 
of  these  States,  point  out  the  Immediate 
Necessity  of  giving  the  Enemy  Battle." 

A  plan  for  an  attack  on  Philadelphia  is 
then  given,  and  the  letter  closes  with  this  re 
markable  sentence: 

"It  is  not  in  our  power  to  Command  Success, 
but  it  is  in  our  power  to  produce  a  Conviction  to 
the  world  that  we  deserve  it" 

Wayne  used  that  expression  very  often  in 
his  letters  during  the  Revolution,  but  it  failed 
to  effect  his  purpose  in  this  case.  With  all 
but  two  or  three  of  his  other  officers  opposed 
to  an  attack  on  the  entrenched  British,  Wash 
ington  felt  obliged  to  go  into  camp  for  the 
winter,  and  Valley  Forge  was  chosen  as  the 
site  for  the  camp. 


100 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE   VALLEY   FORGE   WINTER 

FROM  October  4,  1777,  to  December  1st, 
Washington's  army  lay  encamped  at  White 
Marsh  Church.  Washington,  in  his  modesty, 
felt  obliged  to  listen  to  the  cautions  of  the 
timid  majority  of  his  advisers  rather  than  to 
the  urgent  appeal  of  the  courageous,  of  whom 
Wayne  was  chief,  and  so  no  attack  was  made 
on  Howe.  He  held  his  ground  when,  on  one 
occasion,  the  British  marched  up  to  give  bat 
tle,  but  on  seeing  the  "  countenance  "  of  the 
Americans  the  knighted  Howe  hunted  winter 
quarters,  as  the  knighted  Carleton  had  done 
a  year  before  in  the  north. 

But  when  the  storms  of  winter  came,  the 
countenance  of  the  American  force  blanched, 
and  on  December  llth  they  marched  away  un 
molested  to  settle  down  for  the  winter  in  Val 
ley  Forge. 

A  memorable  march  was  that.  The 
ground  was  snow-covered,  save  on  the  faces 
of  ridges  where  the  wind  had  blown  it  away, 
101 


Anthony  Wayne 


and  hundreds  of  the  soldiers  were  barefooted ; 
but  the  barefooted  found  the  snow  less  pain 
ful  than  the  wind-swept  ground.  For  the 
ground  was  frozen  into  knobs,  and  the  knobs 
were  full  of  sharp  rock  and  bits  of  iron  ore 
that  cut  and  tore  the  feet  of  the  marching 
host  till  their  trail  was  marked  with  blood. 
And  yet,  though  their  sufferings  were  just 
begun,  after  they  reached  their  destination 
(on  the  17th)  the  whole  army  united  in  a  de 
vout  service  of  thanksgiving  that  had  been 
appointed  by  Congress. 

Valley  Forge  is  "a  deep,  short  hollow 
scooped  out  from  a  low,  rugged  mountain  " 
that  stands  on  the  west  side  of  the  Schuylkill, 
six  or  seven  miles  above  Morristown,  and  it 
was  in  1777,  20  miles  from  Philadelphia 
by  the  highway.  This  hollow  opened  upon 
the  great  valley  of  the  Schuylkill  toward 
Phenixville.  A  small  creek  ran  through  the 
hollow.  On  this  creek  old  Isaac  Potts,  a 
Quaker,  had  established  a  forge  for  supplying 
the  region  with  iron,  and  thus  had  given  a 
name  to  the  little  hollow. 

The  army,  when  it  reached  the  hollow, 

numbered  11,098  men,  but  of  these  2,898  were 

unfit  for  duty  because  they  were  naked  or 

barefooted,  and  had  marched  19  miles  bare- 

102 


The  Valley  Forge  Winter 

footed  over  the  rock-pointed  knobs  of  the 
wind-swept  ridges.  Those  who  could  work 
at  once  started  for  the  forest  trees  that  stood 
in  abundance  about  the  valley,  and  cutting 
them  down  they  built  log  cabins,  with  stick- 
and-mud  chimneys,  and  roofs  made  of  pun 
cheons,  or  boards  that  were  split  instead  of 
sawed  from  logs.  The  cracks  between  the 
logs — the  chinks — were  stuffed  with  moss, 
bark,  or  mud.  There  were  no  floors  to  the 
huts,  and  the  wind  came  driving  through 
many  a  crevice  in  spite,  of  the  care  of  the 
builders.  There  were  no  beds,  and  not  one 
blanket,  on  the  average,  to  the  hut.  The  men 
in  each  hut  had  to  lie  on  the  ground,  sick  or 
well,  and  with  their  bare  feet  to  the  fire  shiver 
the  night  away,  while  in  the  coldest  weather 
they  sat  up  in  a  huddle  around  the  fire  all 
night  long  because  unable  to  endure  the  cold 
when  stretched  out. 

The  naked,  when  their  turn  came  to  mount 
guard,  were  obliged  to  borrow  the  clothing  of 
comrades  before  they  went  out.  And  to  add 
to  the  misery  of  all,  food  was  so  scarce  that 
they  were  often  without  meat  for  days  at  a 
stretch,  and  sometimes  without  flour,  or  any 
substitute  for  it. 

And  yet  at  this  time  the  Legislature  of 
103 


Anthony  Wayne 


Pennsylvania — the  patriots  who  were  careful 
to  stay  at  home  to  serve  their  country — ad 
dressed  a  formal  remonstrance  to  Congress 
against  allowing  the  army  to  go  into  winter 
quarters. 

The  energy  and  vitality  which  Anthony 
Wayne  might  have  used  in  fighting  the  enemy 
— energy  and  vitality  that  would  have  thrived 
on  battle — were  drawn  to  the  lowest  ebb  by 
his  daily  views  of  the  distress  about  him  and 
his  unceasing  and  all  but  fruitless  efforts  to 
provide  for  his  men.  For  his  efforts  were 
steadily  thwarted  by  the  politicians  to  whom 
he  was  obliged  to  apply  to  obtain  supplies. 

In  a  letter  to  Richard  Peters,  Secretary  of 
War,  dated  January  26,  1778,  he  tells  some 
thing  of  the  destitution  of  his  men,  and  begs 
that  the  board  "will  fall  upon  some  other 
mode  than  orders  on  the  Clothier  General  " 
for  supplying  the  needed  clothing,  because,  as 
he  explains,  "  every  let  and  hindrance  in  the 
power  of  the  Clothier  General  seems  to  be 
thrown  in  the  way."  He  appealed  to  Com 
missary  James  Long,  and  that  official  replied 
(February  7th) :  "You  cannot  conceive  how 
Uneasy  I  am  from  want  of  instructions  from 
the  Council  concerning  the  sending  necessa 
ries  to  Camp  for  the  troops."  He  says  shoes 
104 


The  Valley  Forge  Winter 

might  be  forwarded,  but  the  council  "has  not 
fixed  the  issueing  time."  "Some  shirts  & 
stockings  &  good  Breeches  are  in  my  posses 
sion,  on  which  account  I  only  await  your  Or 
ders  and  their  Leave." 

In  another  letter  to  Peters  Wayne  de 
clares  :  "I  am  not  fond  of  danger,  but  I  would 
most  cheerfully  agree  to  enter  into  action, 
once  every  week  in  place  of  visiting  each  hut 
of  my  encampment  (which  is  my  constant 
practice),  and  where  objects  strike  my  eye 
whose  wretched  condition  beggars  all  descrip 
tion.  .  .  .  For  God's  sake  give  us,  if  you  can't 
give  us  anything  else,  give  us  linen  that  we 
may  be  Enabled  to  preserve  the  poor  Worthy 
fellows  from  the  Vermin  that  are  now  devour 
ing  them.  .  .  .  Some  hundreds  '  we  have  bur 
ied  '  who  have  died  of  a  disorder  produced 
by  a  want  of  Clothing." 

"One  loses  patience  as  he  reads  Wayne's 
complaints  of  the  neglect  of  the  commonest 
wants  of  the  soldier,  and  the  ridiculous  ex 
cuses  that  were  made  for  not  supplying 
them,"  as  Stille  says.  "It  is  humiliating  to 
discover,  for  instance,  that  such  were  the  des 
titution  and  nakedness  of  the  troops  at  Valley 
Forge  that  Wayne  himself  purchased  the 
cloth  for  the  articles  his  men  most  needed, 
s  105 


Anthony  Wayne 


hoping,  (as  it  turned  out  in  vain),  to  have  the 
garments  made  up  in  camp;  that  the  State 
Clothier  General  refused  to  issue  the  cloth 
which  he  had  in  store,  through  some  absurd 
rule  in  his  opinion  justifying  his  actions. 
Thus  when  the  proper  officer  called  for  shoes 
repeatedly  they  were  not  issued  because  no 
order  of  Council  had  been  voted.  On  the 
12th  of  March  Wayne  sends  Colonel  Bayard 
to  Lancaster  to  procure  arms  and  clothing, 
but  the  result  is  broken  promises  only.  In 
despair  he  turns  to  the  President  of  the  Coun 
cil,  or  Governor,  and  is  told  in  reply,  that  he 
should  send  out  more  recruiting  officers,  and 
that  as  to  the  non-receipt  of  the  clothing,  the 
delay  is  caused  by  a  want  of  buttons." 

In  fact  this  President  (Thomas  Wharton) 
wrote  on  April  2d  to  say  to  Wayne  (who 
had  previously  complained  that  some  of  the 
officers  were  also  without  proper  clothing) : 
"If  money  is  an  inducement  to  enlist  in  our 
regiments  this  State  has  given  generously, 
and  the  officers,  I  think,  have  sufficient  en 
couragement  to  do  their  duty." 

But  heartrending  as  most  of  the  details  of 

life  at  Valley  Forge  are,  the  reader  can  yet 

see  that  hope  for  American  freedom  had  not 

yet    fled — indeed,    hope    never    ivas    stronger. 

106 


The  Valley  Forge  Winter 

When  a  foreign  officer  visited  the  camp  and 
"saw  a  gaunt  figure  flitting  from  one  hut  to 
another,  its  nakedness  covered  with  only  a 
dirty  blanket,"  he  "despaired  of  the  inde 
pendence  of  America." 

But  the  incident  that  gave  despair  to  the 
foreigner  gave  hope  to  men  like  Anthony 
Wayne.  That  figure  remained  in  camp,  wait 
ing  for  the  clothing  that  would  enable  him  to 
go  out  and  fight  for  the  gridiron  flag,  instead 
of  deserting  when  out  on  picket  duty  in  bor 
rowed  clothing.  There  is  no  picture  of  Amer 
ican  patriotism  so  graphic  as  that  of  the  naked 
soldiers  crouching  ~by  their  fires  during  the  win 
ters  of  the  Revolution. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  winter  Baron  Steu- 
ben  came  to  Valley  Forge.  Steuben  had  been 
trained  under  Frederick  the  Great.  He  was 
an  earnest,  capable,  hot-tempered  man,  who 
knew  the  manual  of  arms  and  how  to  ma 
neuver  troops  on  the  field  better  than  any 
other  man  in  America.  He  came  to  Valley 
Forge  to  show  the  soldiers  how  to  do  their 
work  in  the  best  way,  and  he  trained  officers 
as  well  as  men.  Wayne's  men  had  used  the 
bayonet,  and  so  had  others — as  a  farmer  uses 
a  pitchfork.  Steuben,  with  musket  in  hand, 
taught  the  men  how  to  thrust  and  parry  in  the 
107 


Anthony  Wayne 


scientific  manner  of  the  Prussian  veterans 
under  Frederick  the  Great.  He  taught  them 
how  to  march  in  column,  and  deploy  in  line 
quickly,  and  what  was  of  still  greater  impor 
tance,  how  to  act  together.  He  saw  the  ad 
vantages  of  the  backwoods  American  plan  of 
scattering  behind  trees,  on  proper  occasions, 
and  developed  from  it  the  modern  skirmish 
line. 

Wayne  was  a  constant  spectator  of  Steu- 
ben's  work,  and  how  he  profited  by  it  shall 
appear.  The  bayonet  exercises  particularly 
interested  him.  In  a  letter  to  Secretary  of 
War  Peters  (February  8,  1777),  we  find 
this: 

"I  find  the  enclosed  deficiency  in  Bayonets 
which  I  wish  an  order  for  from  the  Board  of 
War  on  Mr.  William  Henry,  at  Lancaster, 
with  directions  to  make  them  eighteen  inches 
long  in  the  blade.  ...  I  would  also  wish  to 
exchange  a  number  of  rifles  for  muskets  and 
bayonets.  I  don't  like  rifles.  I  would  almost 
as  soon  face  an  enemy  with  a  good  musket 
and  bayonet  without  ammunition,  as  with  am 
munition  without  a  bayonet,  for  although 
there  are  not  many  instances  of  bloody  bayo 
nets,  yet  I  am  confident  that  one  bayonet 
keeps  off  another,  and  for  want  of  which  the 
108 


The  Valley   Forge  Winter 

Chief  of  the  Defeats  we  have  met  with  ought 
in  a  great  measure  to  be  attributed.  The 
Enemy,  knowing  the  defenceless  state  of  our 
Riflemen,  rush  on.  They  [the  riflemen]  fly, 
mix  with  or  pass  thro'  the  other  troops,  and 
communicate  fears  that  is  ever  incident  to  a 
retiring  corps.  This  would  not  be  the  case 
if  the  riflemen  had  bayonets.  But  it  would 
be  still  better  if  good  muskets  and  bayonets 
were  put  into  the  hands  of  good  marksmen, 
and  rifles  entirely  laid  aside.  For  my  part 
I  never  wish  to  see  one  [a  rifle],  at  least  with 
out  a  bayonet.  I  don't  give  this  as  a  mere 
matter  of  opinion  or  speculation,  but  as  a 
matter  of  fact  to  the  truth  of  which  I  have 
more  than  once  been  an  unhappy  witness." 

This  dissertation  on  the  advantages  of  the 
use  of  the  bayonet  becomes  all  the  more  in 
teresting  if  the  reader  will  recall  what  Wayne 
had  to  say,  while  at  Ticonderoga,  about  the 
need  of  training  men  to  maneuver  in  the  open 
field.  According  to  his  ideas,  to  hide  behind 
breastworks  was  to  cultivate  cowardice.  To 
get  out  in  the  field  and  meet  the  enemy,  man 
to  man  and  steel  to  steel,  was  to  cultivate 
manhood. 

We  see  now  Wayne's  ideal  of  a  soldier — 
a  man  in  a  dress  that  would  appeal  to  pride ; 
109 


Anthony  Wayne 


carrying  a  musket  with  bayonet  fixed ;  trained 
to  shoot  the  musket  accurately,  and  ply  the 
bayonet  effectively;  and  willing,  as  well  as 
able,  to  go  through  all  necessary  maneuvers 
on  the  open  field  and  under  fire. 

In  March  food  became  so  scarce  at  Valley 
Forge  that  Wayne  was  sent  over  to  New  Jer 
sey  to  forage  for  supplies.  He  was,  of  course, 
to  give  to  the  owners  of  the  stuff  taken  receipts 
which  were  to  be  cashed  by  Congress.  It  was 
not  pleasant  work,  but  it  was  necessary,  and 
Wayne  obeyed  orders  cheerfully.  He  found 
some  pleasure  in  it,  too,  when  actually  in  the 
field,  for  the  British  had  foraging  parties  in 
the  same  region,  and  Wayne  chased  them  back 
to  Philadelphia,  where  they  arrived  "not 
without  some  loss  attended  with  Circum 
stances  of  Disgrace."  That  he  obtained  the 
needed  supplies  scarcely  need  be  stated. 

Finally,  on  April  21,  1776,  Wayne  wrote  a 
letter  to  Washington  offering  suggestions  in 
detail  for  the  coming  campaign. 

"I  took  the  Liberty  to  suggest  to  your  Ex 
cellency,  (some  time  since),  the  Idea  of  making 
an  Offensive  Campaign  against  such  places 
as  afford  the  greatest  prospect  of  Success  to 
us  &  injury  to  the  enemy.  .  .  .  Many  Reasons 
(in  my  humble  opinion),  both  political  and 
110 


The  Valley  Forge  Winter 

prudential  point  to  the  expediency  of  putting 
the  enemy  on  the  Defensive." 

It  was  in  the  spirit  thus  expressed  that 
Wayne  went  into  the  battle  of  Monmouth, 
which  was  now  to  come. 


Ill 


CHAPTER   XIII 

MONMOUTH 

IT  was  on  September  26,  1777,  that  a  part 
of  Howe's  army  under  Cornwallis  entered 
Philadelphia  with  banners  flying  and  brass 
bands  playing  "God  save  the  King."  They 
thought  it  a  great  triumph  to  capture  "the 
rebel  capital."  By  good  luck  they  held  it, 
and  settled  down  for  the  winter.  But  in  the 
meantime  the  American  representatives  in 
France  had  been  able  to  negotiate  a  treaty 
whereby  the  independence  of  the  United 
States  was  recognized,  and  an  alliance  for  the 
purpose  of  war  was  formed  (February  6, 
1778).  The  British  at  once  declared  war 
against  France,  and  then  France  prepared  a 
powerful  fleet  and  an  army  to  send  to  the 
relief  of  the  Americans. 

Acting  in  fear  of  what  this  force  might  do 
in  the  way  of  blockading  the  Delaware  and 
capturing  the  smaller  British  squadron  there, 
the  British  ministry  ordered  Sir  Henry  Clin 
ton  to  leave  Philadelphia  and  take  the  army 
to  New  York. 

112 


Monmouth 

This  order  reached  Sir  Henry  on  June  4, 
1778.  At  the  dawn  of  June  18th  the  British 
army  crossed  to  Gloucester  Point  on  the  Jer 
sey  shore,  and  marched  away  to  Haddenfield. 

On  learning  the  facts,  Washington 
marched  to  the  northeast  (nearly  parallel 
with  the  course  of  the  British),  to  cross  the 
Delaware  above  Trenton.  On  June  24th  (when 
in  camp  at  Hopewell,  N.  J.,  a  few  miles  from 
Princeton)  Washington  invited  his  generals 
to  a  council,  wherein  he  stated  to  them  his 
own  force  and  that  of  the  enemy,  and  then 
asked  them  to  reply  to  this  question : 

"Will  it  be  advisable  to  hazard  a  general 
action?  " 

A  most  memorable  council  was  that.  Six 
teen  generals  were  gathered  before  Washing 
ton,  with  Lee,  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  Lord 
Stirling,  of  New  Jersey,  and  Baron  Steuben 
as  the  lights  from  Europe.  By  right  of  rank 
Lee  answered  first,  and  with  arguments  that 
seemed  to  all  the  foreigners,  and  to  some  of 
the  Americans,  conclusive,  he  declared  against 
such  an  action.  Others  followed  with  similar 
arguments. 

One  sees  herein  how  the  foreigners  in  the 
American  army  served  the  patriot  cause — 
what  an  incubus  they  were.  For  they  had  no 
113 


Anthony  Wayne 


confidence  in  the  ragged  hosts  of  men  who 
marched  as  if  they  had  one  foot  in  the  furrow 
and  one  on  the  land-side.  Even  the  enthusi 
astic  but  much  overrated  Lafayette  and  the 
capable  Steuben*  spoke  against  an  attack 
upon  the  enemy. 

But  when  the  turn  of  Anthony  Wayne  had 
come,  and  Washington  said  to  him,  "What 
would  you  do,  general!"  he  arose  in  his  place 
and  replied  with  emphasis : 

"Fight,  sir!" 

That  was  the  greatest  speech  known  to 
the  records  of  the  American  councils  of  war. 
There  were  but  two  other  generals  in  the 
council  who  agreed  with  Wayne,  but  Wash 
ington  was  one  of  the  two,  and  "Fight,  sir," 
would  have  ended  the  war  on  the  plains  of 
Monmouth  but  for  the  work  of  the  traitor 
Lee. 

While  Washington  was  holding  his  coun 
cil  of  war  at  Hopewell,  the  British  were  in  a 
camp  that  extended  from  Imlaystown,  in 
Monmouth  County,  to  the  southwest  for  three 
miles — as  far  as  Allentown,  where  the  main 
part  of  the  camp  lay. 

Up  to  this  date  Sir  Henry  Clinton  had  pur 
posed  marching  to  Amboy,  and  thence  to  the 

*  Kapp  says  Steuben  voted  to  fight. 


Monmouth 

Hudson  River,  but  Lieutenant-Colonel  John 
Graves  Simcoe,  who  was  in  command  of  a 
band  of  Tories  (and  was  a  man  of  whom  we 
shall  learn  something  more  in  this  biography), 
discovered  the  threatening  position  of  Wash 
ington's  men,  and  Clinton  "was  led  to  wish 
for  a  route  less  liable  to  obstacles"  than  the 
one  he  had  previously  decided  on,  to  quote  his 
report. 

Accordingly,  Sir  Henry  decided  to  march 
to  Sandy  Hook  instead  of  Amboy,  hoping 
thereby  to  "  outwit  "  the  Americans,  instead 
of  fighting  them.  And  on  the  morning  of 
June  25th  he  sent  Knyphausen,  with  the  Hes 
sians  in  charge  of  the  baggage,  in  a  proces 
sion  12  miles  long,  from  Imlaystown  on  the 
road  to  Monmouth  Court-House  (now  Free 
hold,  N.  J.),  while  he  himself,  with  the  Brit 
ish  portion  of  the  army,  covered  the  retreat. 

The  heat  of  the  season  is  described  as 
something  almost  intolerable,  but  Knyphau 
sen  pushed  on  13  miles  before  he  halted. 
Clinton  halted  at  the  Rising  Sun  tavern,  say 
4  miles  out.  The  next  morning  (June  26th), 
Knyphausen  marched  on  to  Freehold  (a  dis 
tance  of  4  miles),  and  here  he  was  over 
taken  by  the  main  body  under  Clinton,  and 
the  entire  force  then  camped  to  the  west  and 
115 


Anthony  Wayne 


north  of  the  court-house,  and  out  along  the 
highway  that  comes  to  Freehold  from  the 
southwest. 

It  should  be  remembered  now  that  when, 
on  the  25th  (after  reaching  Kingston,  3  miles 
east  of  Princeton),  Washington  learned  that 
Clinton  was  heading  for  Sandy  Hook,  instead 
of  Amboy,  he  ordered  forward  Wayne  with 
1,000  picked  men,  and  gave  Lafayette  general 
oversight  of  all  the  forces  that  had  been  sent 
on  in  advance.  Then,  when  night  came, 
Washington  left  his  baggage-train  at  King 
ston  and  marched  to  Cranberry  (a  place  8 
miles  to  the  northwest  of  Freehold),  where  he 
arrived  on  Friday  morning,  June  26th.  At 
the  same  time  the  advance  corps  under  Lafay 
ette  took  post  at  Englishtown,  5  miles  north 
west  of  Freehold. 

Seeing  that  Washington  was  determined 
to  fight,  Gen.  Charles  Lee  now  claimed  the 
right  to  command  the  advance  corps,  and  be 
cause  he  was  the  senior  major-general,  Wash 
ington  permitted  him  to  go  forward  with  two 
more  brigades  and  displace  Lafayette.  Lee 
took  command  of  the  advance  on  the  27th, 
and  at  sunset  Washington  rode  from  Cran 
berry  to  the  advance  post  at  Englishtown, 
and  "anxiously  reconnoitered  Sir  Henry's  po- 
116 


Monmouth 

sition."  He  found  it  was  "protected  by  woods 
and  morasses,  and  too  strong  to  be  attacked 
with  prospects  of  success,"  but  he  knew  that 
when  at  Middletown,  another  day's  march 
toward  Sandy  Hook,  Sir  Henry  would  have  a 
still  stronger  position,  and  he  saw,  therefore, 
that  he  must  fight  now  if  at  all. 

Accordingly,  he  ordered  Lee  to  attack  the 
British  rear  as  soon  as  the  head  of  their  col 
umn  should  be  under  way  next  morning. 
Washington  then  rode  back  to  his  own  camp 
at  Cranberry,  but  during  the  night  he  began 
to  fear  that  the  British  would  sneak  away  in 
the  night,  as  Howe  had  done  on  the  Schuyl- 
kill,  and  so  ordered  Lee  to  send  forward  700 
men  to  observe  the  movements,  and  in  case 
of  their  flight,  to  attack  and  to  hold  them  as 
long  as  possible. 

General  Dickinson  was  sent  forward  on 
this  duty,  but  it  was  not  until  sunrise  (Sun 
day,  June  28,  1778)  that  Lee  started  Dickin 
son  from  camp.  As  Dickinson  marched  for 
ward  (heading  southeast),  he  saw  the  enemy 
was  in  motion,  and  sent  word  to  Washington 
as  well  as  Lee.  Then  he  boldly  continued  on 
his  way,  and  after  crossing  what  is  known  as 
the  west  ravine,  he  opened  fire  on  Clinton's 
rear-guard. 

117 


Anthony  Wayne 


The  messenger  who  carried  the  news  to 
Washington  arrived  at  five  o'clock,  and  Wash 
ington  immediately  sent  orders  to  Lee  to 
march  forward  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  and 
notified  him  that  the  main  army  had  thrown 
aside  their  packs  and  were  coming  forward  to 
join  the  advance. 

In  obedience  to  this  order  Lee  moved  for 
ward  from  Englishtown,  Colonel  Richard 
Butler,  with  200  Pennsylvanians,  heading  the 
column.  General  Woodford's  brigade  (600 
men)  came  next,  General  Varnum  following 
with  600  men,  and  then  came  Wayne  with  his 
picked  men,  1,000  in  number,  and  2  pieces 
of  field-artillery.  After  Wayne  came  other 
brigades  under  Scott  and  Maxwell,  making 
in  all  nearly  5,000  men  and  12  pieces  of  ar 
tillery. 

This  column  was  frequently  halted  by  Lee 
during  its  march,  and  at  one  of  these  halts 
Wayne  was  ordered  to  leave  his  picked  men, 
take  command  of  600  men,  and  with  them  go 
forward  to  beat  up  the  country  and  locate  the 
enemy's  rear-guard. 

It  was  an  order  to  Wayne's  taste,  and 

crossing    the    west    ravine,    through    which 

flows  Wemrock  Brook,  he  soon  discovered  a 

small  covering  party  of  the  enemy,  and  made 

118 


Monmouth 

them  fly  in  "very  great  disorder  and  con 
fusion." 

In  the  meantime  Sir  Henry  Clinton  had 
been  careful  to  place  the  best  of  his  command 
in  the  rear  of  all,  because  he  was  looking  for 
an  attack.  As  Clinton  marched  away  Wayne 
saw  him,  and  sent  a  messenger  to  Lee  asking 
that  "the  troops  might  be  pushed  on."  Lee, 
of  course,  omitted  to  push  on,  until  he  learned 
that  a  party,  800  or  900  strong,  had  stopped 
to  the  east  of  the  court-house,  and  were  plainly 
waiting  for  the  Americans.  Lee  then  ordered 
Wayne,  whose  earnestness  and  activity  were 
manifest,  to  take  700  men  from  his  Pennsyl- 
vanians  (Butler  with  his  battalion  of  200  be 
ing  among  them),  with  two  pieces  of  artillery, 
and  charge  this  covering  party  of  at  least  800 
men.  And  "with  his  wonted  gallantry,  Gen 
eral  Wayne  did  so."  This  Wayne  did  so  ef 
fectually  that  Clinton  sent  back  the  Queen's 
light  dragoons  to  help  the  800  resist  the  700 
Pennsylvanians. 

As  the  dragoons  came  galloping  back, 
Wayne's  men  promptly  formed  to  receive 
them,  with  Butler's  200  at  the  fore,  and  they 
not  only  stood  the  shock,  but  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet  drove  the  horsemen  through  the 
British  infantry,  and  then  across  the  east 
119 


Anthony  Wayne 


ravine,  as  a  low  stretch  of  ground  east  of  the 
court-house  was  called.  Thither  Wayne  pur 
sued  them,  and  on  reaching  an  eminence  be 
yond  the  ravine  he  planted  two  pieces  of  ar 
tillery  (under  Colonel  Oswald)  and  opened 
fire  on  a  third  detachment  that  was  coming 
back  to  attack  him. 

In  the  meantime  Lee  had  carried  his  col 
umn  in  a  detour  off  to  the  north  of  where 
.Wayne  was  fighting  against  odds,  and  had 
advanced  so  far  to  the  east  of  the  court-house 
that  his  column  had  crossed  the  east  ravine. 
On  seeing  this,  Clinton  turned  back  with  the 
main  body  of  his  army  and  began  to  form  in 
line  to  give  battle. 

The  supreme  moment  for  which  Washing 
ton  had  hoped  had  come.  If  any  patriot  of 
the  army  had  been  in  command  in  place  of  the 
traitor  Lee,  the  fight  would  have  been  forced 
by  the  Americans  until  Washington  (whose 
men  were  coming  in  hot  haste)  could  arrive 
and  decide  the  fate  of  the  day  quickly.  With 
a  man  of  Wayne's  temper  in  command,  there 
would  have  been  no  need  to  wait  for  Wash 
ington.  But  Lee,  to  aid  Clinton,  immediately 
began  to  retreat  with  his  column.  And  ap 
parently  this  order  for  retreat  had  in  it  some 
thing  more  than  a  desire  to  aid  the  British, 
120 


Monmouth 

for  although  Wayne  had  sent  for  reenforce- 
ments,  Lee  abandoned  him  to  his  fate.  Lee 
knew  that  at  this  moment,  to  quote  his  own 
words  in  a  letter  to  Robert  Morris,  that  "the 
force  opposed  to  the  American  Army  was  the 
whole  flower  of  the  British  Army,  Grenadiers, 
Light  Infantry,  Cavalry  &  Artillery,  amount 
ing  in  all  to  7,000  men." 

With  only  700  men  and  two  pieces  of  artil 
lery,  Wayne  was  left  to  face  "the  whole 
flower  of  the  British  Army."  But  Wayne 
was  the  man  for  the  occasion.  Holding  his 
men  together  he  backed  away.  He  was  "  often 
hard  pushed  and  frequently  surrounded,"  but 
he  cut  his  way  through  and  saved  his  guns 
as  well  as  his  men.  And  when  the  retreating 
host  came  to  the  middle  ravine  once  more 
Wayne  was  found  with  his  unsurpassed  Penn- 
sylvanians,  "in  the  post  of  danger,  next  to  the 
enemy,"  whom  he  was  keeping  "two,  three  or 
four  hundred  yards  distant." 

It  was  in  this  fashion  that  Wayne  covered 
Lee's  retreating  force  as  it  crossed  the  cause 
way  over  the  middle  ravine,  which  lay  half 
way  between  the  east  ravine  and  the  west. 
No  point  had  been  assigned  for  a  halt  to 
check  the  exultant  British,  though  Wayne  saw 
no  difficulty  in  holding  them  back,  "provided 
9  121 


Anthony  Wayne 


any  effort  or  exertion  was  made  for  the  pur 
pose." 

Meantime  stragglers  got  on  ahead  of  the 
main  part  of  Lee's  command,  and  from  them 
Washington  learned  that,  although  Lee  had 
sent  word  that  success  was  assured,  the  whole 
advanced  American  force  was  retreating. 

At  this  time  Washington's  part  of  the 
army  was  approaching  the  west  ravine.  Not 
able  to  believe  the  reports,  Washington  sent 
aids  forward,  and  these  soon  brought  back 
a  confirmation. 

With  his  blood  on  fire,  Washington  dashed 
forward,  down  into  the  west  ravine,  and  up 
on  the  side  toward  the  enemy,  into  the  midst 
of  Lee's  retreating  column.  Facing  them 
about,  he  ordered  them  into  line  across  the 
road,  with  Wayne  on  the  right  And  then 
as  the  men  with  thankfulness  and  enthusi 
asm  obeyed  these  orders,  the  traitor  Lee 
rode  up. 

"What  is  the  meaning  of  all  this?"  de 
manded  Washington  fiercely.  "I  desire  to 
know  the  meaning  of  this  disorder  and  con 
fusion?  " 

"  By  God,  sir,  American  soldiers  can  not 
fight  British  grenadiers,"  replied  Lee. 

"By  God,  they  can  fight  any  upon  the  face 
122 


Pi 


Monmouth 

of  the  earth,"  said  Washington,  "and  you  are 
a  damned  poltroon." 

Washington  then  went  on  directing  Lee's 
column  into  line,  and  when  that  was  done,  he 
went  back  to  bring  forward  the  remainder  of 
the  army. 

It  is  a  matter  of  just  pride  in  Pennsylva 
nia  that  Wayne,  with  three  regiments  from  his 
own  State  and  one  each  from  Virginia  and 
Maryland,  was  placed  in  the  post  of  honor — 
an  orchard  on  the  southerly  side  of  the  road. 
This  post  they  were  to  hold  until  Washington 
brought  up  the  reenforcements,  and  they  did 
it  for  a  time  without  difficulty,  because  the 
British,  save  for  two  brigades,  were  yet  a  con 
siderable  distance  away.  As  the  American 
reenforcements  came  up  and  took  position  in 
the  line,  however,  the  main  body  of  the  enemy 
under  Lord  Cornwallis  arrived  within  range, 
and  there  halted. 

But  the  halt  was  only  momentary.  As 
soon  as  he  had  observed  the  position  and 
strength  of  the  American  line,  Cornwallis  or 
dered  Colonel  Monckton,  commander  of  the 
British  grenadiers,  to  charge  with  the  bayo 
net,  and  Monckton  formed  his  men  directly  in 
front  of  the  division  that  was  under  Anthony 
Wayne. 

123 


Anthony  Wayne 


Wayne  had  been  hard  pressed  and  even 
surrounded  while  retreating.  His  command 
had  been  in  deadly  peril  from  the  time  of 
their  charge  on  the  rear-guard  at  the  court 
house,  but  for  him  and  them  the  critical  mo 
ment  of  the  battle  was  now  at  hand.  For  the 
grenadiers  were  picked  men  of  known 
strength,  proved  courage,  and  unequaled  skill 
with  the  bayonet.  They  were  officered  by  the 
pick  of  the  British  aristocracy — by  men  who 
were  the  pride  of  the  British  nation. 

Advancing  before  his  men,  Monckton  made 
them  a  speech,  "in  which  he  urged  them  by 
all  the  motives  that  appeal  to  a  soldier's  pride 
and  esprit  de  corps"  to  do  their  work  man- 
fashion.  And  while  he  spoke  the  field  of  bat 
tle  became  so  quiet  that  every  word  was  heard 
by  every  man  who  stood  behind  Anthony 
Wayne. 

And  then  as  Monckton  ceased  to  talk,  the 
drums  rolled  the  charge,  and  the  grenadiers, 
in  their  gorgeous  uniforms,  leaped  forward 
with  eager  shouts  and  with  bayonets  down. 
As  they  came  the  ragged  host  with  Wayne 
waited  in  dead  silence  until  the  range  was 
no  more  than  30  yards,  and  then  they  put 
their  muskets  to  their  faces  and  opened  a 
fire  that  flung  back  the  red  line  of  the  ene- 
124 


Monmouth 

my  as  a  gust  of  wind  flings  dead  leaves  be 
fore  it. 

Monckton  himself  fell  dead  at  the  first  fire, 
and  on  learning  that  he  was  killed,  his  men 
returned  in  desperation  to  recover  his  body. 
They  even  continued  their  efforts  till  some  of 
them  fell  dead  from  heat  and  sheer  exhaus 
tion — but  without  avail.  For  neither  pride 
nor  courage  nor  skill  could  drive  them 
through  the  line  where  Wayne  commanded. 
It  was  of  these  men  that  Washington  had 
said: 

"By  God,  they  can  fight  any  upon  the  face 
of  the  earth." 

And  the  race  seems  not  to  have  deterio 
rated  since  that  day. 

It  was  against  Wayne,  who  was  the  nerve 
center  of  the  American  army,  that  the  flower 
of  the  British  army  was  hurled,  and  when  it 
had  fallen  into  disordered  petals  and  broken 
stamens,  the  whole  British  force  retreated. 
But  because  of  their  exhaustion  under  the 
frightful  heat  of  the  day  Washington  allowed 
his  men  to  camp  on  the  field. 

Of  Wayne's  part  in  the  battle  Washing 
ton,  who  mentioned  no  other  officer  by  name, 
wrote:  "I  cannot  forbear  mentioning  Briga 
dier-General  Wayne,  whose  good  conduct  and 
125 


Anthony  Wayne 


bravery  through  the  whole  action  deserves 
particular  commendation."  And  to  this  Stille 
adds,  that  "to  many  the  orchard  at  Mon- 
mouth  seemed  a  second  Thermopylae,  and 
Wayne  was  spoken  of  as  a  modern  Leonidas." 

At  Germantown  Wayne  had  shown  what 
he  and  his  men  could  do  in  charging  the 
enemy  with  the  bayonet.  At  Monmouth  he 
demonstrated  that  they  could  also  stand  the 
shock  of  cavalry  and  the  bayonet  charge  of 
the  most  powerful  grenadiers  of  Europe.  He 
had  earned  all  the  praise  that  was  given  him, 
and  more.  But  there  was  one  feature  of  his 
character  that  was  brought  out  at  this  time 
that  endears  him  even  more  than  his  work  in 
battle  to  the  heart  of  a  soldier.  For  when  the 
battle  was  over  he  sat  down  to  write  to  his 
personal  friend,  Major  "Light-Horse  Harry  " 
Lee,  and  this  is  what  he  had  to  say  about  the 
battle : 

"I  wished  for  you  to  come  in  for  a  share 
of  the  Glory  of  the  28th.  Col.  Butler  wanted 
you  much.  The  Enemy's  Horse,  supported 
by  the  first  Kegiment  of  the  Guards,  made  a 
charge  upon  his  Keg't,  consisting  of  200  men. 
He  sustained  the  shock,  broke  them  &  pur 
sued  both  horse  &  foot,  the  Latter  having  been 
thrown  into  Disorder  by  the  former  running 
126 


Monmouth 

through  them.    Here  was  a  field  for  you  to 
act  in." 

The  whole  praise  of  the  splendid  fighting 
at  the  court-house  early  in  the  day  is  thus 
given  to  a  subordinate  officer,  Colonel  Rich 
ard  Butler. 


127 


CHAPTER 

WHEN  WAYNE  WAS  SUPERSEDED  BY  ST.  CLAIB 

FOR  more  than  a  year  after  the  Battle  of 
Monmouth  the  British  were  blockaded  in  New 
York  by  a  thin  line  of  rags — a  line  through 
which  the  British  were  able  to  break  by  an  oc 
casional  raiding  party,  it  is  true,  but  which 
bound  them  to  inaction.  But  in  the  meantime 
there  were  incidents  of  interest  in  the  career 
of  Anthony  Wayne  that  shall  receive  consid 
eration  here. 

The  traitor  Lee,  with  the  instincts  of  a 
blackleg,  thought  to  bluff  the  whole  American 
nation,  and  succeeded  to  an  astonishing  de 
gree.  He  wrote  letters  to  the  newspapers. in 
which  he  attacked  Washington,  Steuben,  and 
Wayne,  and  maintained  such  an  attitude  of 
haughty  defiance  when  tried  for  his  crime  at 
Monmouth  that  the  court-martial,  though  it 
found  him  guilty  as  charged,  merely  sus 
pended  him  for  one  year.  He  was  eventually 
dismissed  from  the  army  for  writing  an  inso 
lent  letter  to  Congress,  but,  sad  to  relate,  died 
a  natural  death, 

128 


When  Wayne  was  Superseded 

In  the  meantime  his  attack  on  the  officers 
mentioned  brought  him  three  challenges  to 
fight  duels.  The  insult  to  Washington  was 
taken  up  by  Colonel  John  Laurens,  of  Wash 
ington's  staff.  Lee  had  shown  sufficient  phys 
ical  courage  in  battle,  but  when  it  carne  to 
dueling  he  promptly  accepted  the  challenge  of 
Laurens,  who  was  the  least  capable,  as  he  sup 
posed,  of  doing  him  harm  in  a  duel.  He  had 
no  relish  for  meeting  the  man  who  had  led  the 
Pennsylvanians  against  superior  forces  be 
side  Monmouth  Court-House,  nor  did  he  dare 
face  the  grim  German  warrior  from  the  army 
of  Frederick  the  Great.  Laurens  wounded 
him,  and  with  that  wound  as  an  excuse,  he 
evaded  the  other  challenges. 

It  is  a  pleasing  fact  that  while  biographers 
of  Andrew  Jackson,  and  even  of  John  Paul 
Jones,  have  felt  obliged  to  apologize  for  the 
fact  that  these  great  men  were  duelists,  no 
one  has  made  a  similar  apology  for  Wayne. 
When  rightly  viewed,  the  duels  of  Jackson 
and  the  willingness  of  Wayne  and  Jones 
to  fight  duels  are  entirely  commendable. 
Wayne,  like  Jones,  did  not  fight  even  one  duel, 
but  he  failed  to  do  so  only  because  his  ene 
mies  dared  not  face  him.  Like  Jones,  Wayne 
was  "every  kind  of  a  fighting  man  there  was." 
129 


Anthony  Wayne 


Wayne  was  engaged  for  a  time  as  a  wit 
ness  before  the  court-martial  that  tried  Lee. 
When  he  had  thereafter  gone  to  his  post 
undeo*  Washington,  we  once  more  find  him 
making  appeals  for  supplies  for  his  men,  and 
for  justice  in  the  matter  of  rank  for  his  offi 
cers.  The  people  of  the  whole  country,  and 
especially  those  in  authority,  were  fully  per 
suaded  that  the  French  would  now  end  the 
war  quickly.  Count  d'Estaing,  with  a  big  fleet 
of  ships,  arrived  on  the  American  coast  bring 
ing  4,000  men.  He  found  the  British  fleet  in 
side  of  Sandy  Hook.  If  he  had  had  half  the 
ability  of  a  Nelson  he  would  have  swooped  in 
on  that  fleet  and  captured  it,  but  he  sailed 
away,  giving  as  an  excuse  that  there  was  not 
depth  of  water  enough  for  maneuvering  his 
ships.  He  went  to  Rhode  Island,  and  there 
failed  again.  But  not  even  then  were  the 
American  people  deprived  of  the  illusion  that 
the  French  were  to  end  the  war,  and  it  was 
therefore  next  to  impossible  to  secure  either 
recruits  or  supplies  for  the  army. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  War 
Board,  dated  July  12,  1778,  Wayne  says  his 
troops  were  " naked."  In  a  letter  to  Robert 
Morris,  dated  October  5,  1778,  he  says:  "In 
the  article  of  Clothing  their  Distresses  are 
130 


When  Wayne  was  Superseded 

great."  On  December  28th  lie  wrote  to  Presi 
dent  Joseph  Eeed,  of  Pennsylvania,  saying, 
"all  the  Pennsylvania  Line  are  at  this  in 
clement  season  exposed  to  wind  and  weather 
in  their  old  tents,  one-third  of  them  being 
quite  destitute  of  blankets  and  without  hats." 
Many  of  the  officers  were  "  actually  so  naked 
as  not  to  be  fit  to  appear  on  parade." 

And  yet  society  in  Philadelphia  at  this 
time  was  described  by  Colonel  Walter  Stew 
art,  who  had  been  sent  there  to  urge  the  needs 
of  the  soldiers,  as  follows : 

"It  is  all  gaiety,  and  from  what  I  can  ob 
serve,  every  lady  and  gentleman  endeavors 
to  outdo  the  other  in  splendor  &  show."  To 
this  Washington  adds  a  still  more  striking 
description : 

"Idleness,  dissipation  and  extravagance 
seem  to  have  laid  fast  hold  of  the  generality, 
and  peculation,  speculation  &  an  insatiable 
thirst  for  riches  to  have  gotten  the  better  of 
every  other  consideration,  and  of  almost 
every  order  of  men.  .  .  .  The  momentous 
concerns  of  the  empire,  a  great  &  accumula 
ting  debt,  ruined  finances,  depreciated  money 
&  want  of  credit,  which  is  want  of  everything, 
are  secondary  considerations,  and  postponed 
by  Congress  from  time  to  time,  as  if  their  af- 
131 


Anthony  Wayne 


fairs  wore  the  most  promising  aspect.  The 
paper  [money]  is  daily  sinking  fifty  per  cent, 
and  yet  an  assembly,  a  concert,  a  dinner  or  a 
supper  which  costs  from  £200  to  £300  does 
not  only  take  men  off  from  acting,  but  even 
from  thinking  of  their  business." 

To  such  congressmen  as  are  here  described 
and  other  stay-at-home  patriots  of  like  char 
acter  Wayne  was  obliged  to  appeal  for  the 
necessaries  of  life  for  his  men,  and  in  his  let 
ter  to  Reed  he  was  so  much  discouraged  that 
he  said: 

"I  neither  ask  nor  wish  for  anything  on 
my  own  account,  and  wish  for  nothing  more 
than  an  opportunity  of  returning  to  my  Sa- 
bine  fields  with  safety  to  my  country  and 
honor  to  myself ;  and  I  am  determined  to  seize 
the  first  favorable  opportunity  to  put  that 
wish  into  execution." 

And  then  in  a  letter  to  Robert  Morris  he 
says: 

"I  have  more  than  once  expressed  a  wish 
for  a  favorable  opportunity  of  quitting  the 
army.  That  period  is  now  drawing  nigh.  I 
therefore  can  have  no  interest  in  view  other 
than  wishing  to  see  brave  and  worthy  officers 
who  have  shared  every  vicissitude  of  fortune 
with  me,  and  who  have  nobly  fought  and  bled 
132 


When  Wayne  was  Superseded 

in  every  field  of  action,  honorably  provided 
for,  not  left,  (when  crippled  with  honest 
wounds  &  grown  gray  in  arms),  to  depend 
upon  the  cold  charity  of  men  who  have  grown 
rich  under  the  shelter  of  their  protecting 
swords." 

Finally  he  went  before  the  Pennsylvania 
Assembly  (whose  duty  it  was,  rather  than 
that  of  Congress,  to  provide  for  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Line),  and  by  a  speech,  of  which  we 
know  only  that  it  was  full  of  pathos,  caused 
them  to  pass  an  act  by  which  the  men  of  the 
line  were  to  receive  half  pay  for  life,  suitable 
uniforms,  and  exemption  from  taxation  of  the 
land  grants  that  had  been  made  to  them.  This 
act  gave  the  men  temporary  relief,  but  it 
was  not  passed  until  in  March.  The  men 
might  have  passed  this  winter  in  tents,  for  all 
the  Assembly  did,  but  Wayne  had  built  huts, 
so  that  they  were  no  worse  off  (and  no  bet 
ter)  than  at  Valley  Forge. 

In  the  meantime  Wayne  had  himself  been 
subjected  to  a  serious  indignity.  Major-Gen- 
eral  St.  Clair  was  placed  in  command  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Line  over  Wayne's  head.  In 
itself  the  ordering  of  a  major-general  to  com 
mand  this  division  was  not  necessarily  an  in 
dignity,  for  the  superior  rank  of  St.  Clair 
133 


Anthony  Wayne 

gave  him  the  legal  right  to  the  command  after 
he  had  been  court-martialed  and  acquitted  on 
the  charge  that  he  abandoned  Ticonderoga 
improperly.  But  Wayne  had  good  reasons 
for  disliking  to  serve  under  St.  Clair.  St. 
Glair  had  been  an  ensign  in  the  British  line 
before  the  war,  and  had  been  promoted  rap 
idly  because  of  the  supposed  superiority  his 
experience  had  given  him.  Though  he  had 
done  nothing  in  battle  or  elsewhere  of  which 
his  latter-day  biographer  is  able  to  boast,  he 
had  been  a  major-general  since  February  19, 
1777. 

Wayne  had  won  the  plaudits  of  every 
fighting  man  of  the  army  at  every  battle 
where  he  had  been  present,  from  Three 
Elvers  to  Monmouth,  and  was  yet  a  briga 
dier-general.  And  he  had  made  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Line  the  best-trained  division  in  the 
patriot  army.  He  did  not  care  for  the  rank 
of  major-general,  but  he  had  been  doing  a 
major-general's  work  for  more  than  a  year, 
and  he  felt  that  to  be  returned  to  the  work  of 
a  brigadier-general  was,  under  the  circum 
stances,  a  personal  degradation. 

There  was  still  further  reason  why  he 
should  object  to  serving  under  St.  Clair. 
When  Wayne  had  been  tried  and  acquitted  on 
134 


When  Wayne  was  Superseded 

the  charge  that  he  had  neglected  his  duty  at 
the  Paoli  massacre,  St.  Clair  openly  sneered 
at  the  finding  of  the  court.  And  at  the  Battle 
of  Momnouth,  when  Wayne  was  leading  the 
advance  against  superior  numbers,  and  sent 
for  three  more  brigades  to  come  to  his  aid, 
St.  Clair,  who  was  present  as  a  volunteer, 
"peremptorily  ordered  them  not  to  advance." 
Wayne  believed  that  St.  Clair  was  unwilling 
to  see  him  gain  the  honor  of  success  on  that 
field,  or  else  that  he  was  ignorant  of  the  needs 
of  the  occasion.  From  what  we  know  now 
of  St.  Clair  it  seems  likely  that  ignorance 
rather  than  malice  actuated  him.  In  any 
event,  Wayne  gained  success  in  spite  of  him, 
and  St.  Clair  held  a  hearty  ill  will  against 
him. 

It  was  under  such  circumstances  that 
Wayne,  on  learning  that  St.  Clair's  wish  to 
supersede  him  was  to  be  granted,  wrote  a  let 
ter  of  protest  in  which  are  these  words : 

"I  don't  mean  by  this  to  ask  for  promo 
tion.  My  only  ambition  was  a  Brigadier 
General's  Command  of  the  Penn'a  line,  which 
command  I  have  been  indulged  in  for  two 
campaigns  and  therefore  thought  I  had  some 
claim  to  that  honor  in  future.  But  to  be 
superseded  at  this  late  hour  by  a  man  in 
135 


Anthony  Wayne 


whose  conduct  and  candor  I  can  have  no  con 
fidence  hurts  me  not  a  little.  ...  I  only  hoped 
not  to  be  degraded,  that  is,  reduced  from  the 
command  of  a  division  to  a  brigade,  and  that 
under  a  man,  who  for  reasons  I  have  already 
mentioned,  I  can  never  submit  to.  I  have 
therefore  determined  to  return  to  domestic 
life,  and  leave  the  blustering  field  of  Mars  to 
the  possession  of  gentlemen  of  more  worth." 

All  men  of  military  experience  justify 
Wayne  in  the  position  taken  here,  but  the  pa 
triotism  of  the  man  rose  above  his  just  indig 
nation.  He  would  do  his  whole  duty  by  his 
country  in  spite  of  ill  treatment,  and  holding 
back  this  letter,  he  sent  instead  a  request  for 
a  leave  of  absence  (February,  1779).  And 
in  this  application  for  a  leave  of  absence  he 
shows  his  interest  in  the  men  who  had  served 
with  him  by  saying  that  if  he  were  allowed  to 
leave  the  command,  Colonel  Richard  Butler 
and  Colonel  William  Irvine  would  not  be  de 
graded  from  the  work  of  brigadiers,  which 
they  had  been  doing,  to  that  of  colonels. 

The  leave  was  granted,  and  then  for  the 
first  time  in  his  career  he  writes  of  his  own 
work  to  Washington,  as  if  he  wished  for 
words  or  thoughts  of  commendation.  This  is 
what  he  says : 

136 


When  Wayne  was  Superseded 

"I  made  a  point  of  having  my  people  well 
and  comfortably  covered  previously  to  my 
leaving  them,  and  hope  that  the  appearance 
of  the  men,  and  the  regularity  and  internal 
police  of  our  new  city,  have  met  your  Excel 
lency's  approbation." 

To  this  he  adds :  "I  also  flatter  myself  that 
General  St.  Clair  will  be  pleased  with  the 
command  that  always  have  and  ever  will  do 
their  duty  in  the  field." 

One  would  naturally  infer  that  Wayne 
wrote  such  words  as  these  only  when  some 
important  end  was  in  view,  and  that  was  the 
case.  The  formation  of  a  light  corps  of  men 
to  be  selected  because  of  their  experience, 
strength,  skill,  and  proved  courage  for  work 
at  the  front  during  the  campaign  of  1779  had 
been  under  consideration  by  Washington  and 
his  generals,  and  Wayne,  after  mentioning 
his  own  services,  as  just  quoted,  says : 

"I  therefore  wish  to  be  indulged  with  a 
situation  in  the  light  corps,  if  it  can  take  place 
without  prejudice  to  the  service,  or  the  ex 
clusion  of  an  officer  of  more  worth  and  expe 
rience. 

"But  if  that  cannot  be  done,  I  beg  your  ex 
cellency  not  to  spend  another  thought,  or  give 
yourself  a  single  moment's  uneasiness  on  the 
10  137 


Anthony  Wayne 


occasion;  but  permit  me  to  hope  for  the  con 
tinuance  of  that  friendship  with  which  you 
have  hitherto  honored  me,  and  in  case  of  an 
active  campaign,  the  pleasure  of  serving  near 
your  person  as  a  volunteer." 

An  appeal  like  that  from  a  man  who  had 
done  such  work  as  Wayne  had  done  was  not 
to  be  resisted.  Washington  came  to  a  defi 
nite  decision  to  form  the  light  corps,  and  to 
place  Wayne  in  command  of  it.  Thus  it  hap 
pened  that  permitting  St.  Clair  to  take  com 
mand  of  the  Pennsylvanian  line,  though  mani 
festly  an  outrage,  was  one  of  the  most  fortu 
nate  events  of  Wayne's  life.  For  now  the 
assault  upon  Stony  Point  was  at  hand. 


138 


CHAPTER   XV 

STONY   POINT 

IN  a  letter  dated  January  23,  1779,  Lord 
George  Germain,  the  British  Minister  of  War, 
wrote  to  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  who  still  com 
manded  in  New  York,  to  say:  "It  is  most 
earnestly  wished  that  you  may  be  able  to 
bring  Mr.  Washington  to  a  general  and  decisive 
action  at  the  opening  campaign."  If  unable 
to  do  this,  then  "Mr.  Washington  "  was  to  be 
cooped  in  the  Highlands  of  the  Hudson,  and 
civil  government  established  in  the  open 
country. 

In  order  to  carry  out  these  instructions, 
Sir  Henry  placed  a  considerable  force  on  his 
ships,  late  in  May,  1779,  and  sailing  up  the 
Hudson  by  easy  stages,  he  took  possession 
(June  1,  1779)  of  Stony  Point  on  the  west 
side  of  the  river,  and  Verplanck's  Point,  op 
posite,  on  the  east  side.  The  Americans  had 
small  detachments  of  men  at  work  fortifying 
both  points  at  the  time,  and  that  on  Stony 
Point  escaped  by  a  retreat  over  Dunderberg 
139 


Anthony  Wayne 


Mountain,  while  the  70  men  on  Verplanck's 
Point  were  surrounded  and  captured. 

Washington  was  encamped  at  this  time  at 
Middlebrook,  N.  J.  Clinton  wished  to  draw 
the  American  forces  to  the  Highlands  of  the 
Hudson  in  order  to  open  the  way  for  the  cap 
ture  of  the  American  base  of  supplies  at 
Easton,  Pa. 

This  threatened  attack  on  the  Highlands 
drew  Washington  from  Middlebrook,  as  Clin 
ton  hoped  it  would.  For  there  was  a  regular 
ferry  (called  King's)  from  Stony  Point  to 
Verplanck's,  and  it  had  been  in  daily  use  by 
the  Americans  in  sending  communications  be 
tween  Washington  and  the  forces  east  of  the 
Hudson.  The  Americans  left  their  quarters 
at  Middlebrook  on  May  30th,  and  on  June  6th 
they  passed  Tuxedo  Lake  to  enter  "the  valley 
running  northeasterly  from  that  point " — a 
valley  then  known  as  Smith's  Cove.  The  next 
day  the  Virginia  division  camped  at  Jones's 
tavern,  near  the  modern  Turner's  Station,  on 
the  Erie  Railroad.  There  they  could  cover 
the  road  to  Haverstraw,  while  the  Pennsylva 
nia  division  took  post  5  miles  farther  on 
(where  a  road  led  off  to  Fort  Montgomery,  on 
the  Hudson)  and  within  12  miles  of  West 
Point.  It  was  a  tribute  to  Wayne,  let  it  be 
140 


Stony  Point 


noted,  that  the  men  he  had  trained  were 
placed  in  advance — at  the  post  of  honor. 

At  this  time  Clinton's  force  included 
12,000  veterans  and  4,000  well-armed  Tories. 
Washington's  immediate  command  numbered 
5,000  men,  of  whom  3,000  only  were  fit  for  an 
active  campaign.  But  with  all  his  superior 
numbers,  Clinton  still  felt  unable  to  march 
across  New  Jersey.  He  therefore  thought  to 
draw  Washington  to  the  east  side  of  the  Hud 
son  by  sending  General  William  Tryon  and 
Sir  George  Collier  (July  3,  1779)  to  ravage 
the  Connecticut  coast.  And  it  was  then  that 
Washington  showed  himself  the  general,  as 
Wayne  used  to  say,  for  instead  of  marching 
to  the  defense  of  Connecticut  he  ordered  An 
thony  Wayne  to  attack  the  enemy  on  the  Hud 
son,  and  the  work  was  done  so  thoroughly  that 
the  marauders  in  Connecticut  were  fright 
ened  from  their  outrageous  task. 

On  June  21st  Washington  wrote  to  Wayne 
(who  was  still  in  Pennsylvania)  to  "join  the 
army  as  soon  as  you  can."  Washington  was 
now  selecting  men  for  the  light  corps  already 
mentioned,  and  they  were  organized  into  four 
regiments  of  340  men  each.  Each  regiment 
was  divided  into  two  battalions.  The  First 
Kegiment  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Chris- 
141 


Anthony  Wayne 

tian  Febiger,  and  his  battalions  were  com 
manded  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Fleury,  a 
Frenchman,  and  Major  Thomas  Posey,  a 
Virginian,  afterward  Governor  of  Indiana. 
The  Second  Eegiment  was  commanded  by 
Colonel  Richard  Butler,  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Samuel  Hay,  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  Major  "Jack"  Steward  (one  of 
the  famous  Marylanders  of  the  war)  com 
manded  the  two  battalions.  The  Third  Eegi 
ment  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Return 
Jonathan  Meigs,  a  noted  figure  in  the  West 
later  on,  while  Lieutenant-Colonel  Isaac 
Sherman  and  Captain  Henry  Champion 
headed  the  battalions.  The  Fourth  Regiment 
was  commanded  by  Colonel  Rufus  Putnam 
(afterward  well  known  to  Ohio  history),  and 
the  battalions  by  Major  William  Hull  (who 
threw  away  his  reputation  at  Detroit  during 
the  next  war)  and  by  Major  Hardy  Murfree, 
of  North  Carolina.  Men  from  Massachu 
setts,  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  and  North  Carolina — men  who  had 
fought  at  Bunker  Hill,  stormed  the  gates  at 
Quebec,  defended  the  fords  at  Brandywine, 
and  charged  through  the  fog  at  Germantown 
—now  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder.  They 
were  equipped  for  swift  movements,  and 
142 


Stony  Point 

every  man  of  them  knew  and  trusted  An 
thony  Wayne,  who  was  to  commmand  them. 

The  First  and  Second  Regiments  were  or 
ganized  in  Washington's  camp,  and  the  Third 
and  Fourth  in  the  New  England  division,  east 
of  the  Hudson.  The  First  and  Second  Regi 
ments  were  stationed  at  Sandy  Beach,  just 
above  Fort  Montgomery.  The  regiments 
east  of  the  river  were  left  there,  and  not  even 
the  officers  of  any  of  the  four  regiments 
learned  what  their  first  work  was  to  be  until 
it  was  ready  in  hand. 

Immediately  on  Wayne's  arrival  he  was 
ordered  (July  1st)  to  his  command  at  Sandy 
Beach,  a  mile  or  more  above  Fort  Montgom 
ery,  where  the  regiments  of  the  light  infantry 
under  Butler  and  Febiger  were  encamped  on 
the  farm  of  Benjamin  Jaques,  a  patriot  who 
had  had  a  part  in  the  defense  of  Fort  Mont 
gomery  in  the  massacre  of  1777.  At  Sandy 
Beach  Wayne  was  to  "exert  himself  to  gain 
an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  scene  of  action." 

Stony  Point,  at  that  time,  was  a  rugged, 
thumb-shaped  island,  100  acres  in  extent, 
lying  close  to  the  west  bank  of  the  Hud 
son  River,  12  miles  (by  water)  below  West 
Point.  At  its  highest  point  it  rose  140  feet 
above  the  tide,  and  it  was  precipitous  and 
143 


Anthony  Wayne 


rough  on  all  sides,  but  particularly  so  on  the 
west,  or  shore  side.  Between  the  island  and 
mainland  was  a  marsh  through  which  ran 
a  channel,  originally  deep  enough  for  row- 
boats.  A  causeway,  or  dirt  roadway,  had 
been  built  across  the  marsh,  opposite  the  cen 
ter  of  the  island,  by  the  Americans,  in  order 
to  reach  their  ferry  landing  (on  the  north  side 
of  the  island),  and  the  roadway  obstructed  the 
flow  of  the  tidal  current.  In  consequence  of 
this  the  waves  threw  up  the  sand  at  both  ends 
of  the  marsh  until  at  low  tide  a  narrow  beach 
extending  from  the  mainland  to  the  island 
was  uncovered. 

On  taking  possession  of  Stony  Point  the 
British  went  to  "work  like  a  Parsels  of  Devils 
in  fortifying  both "  it  and  Verplanck's,  as 
Colonel  Malcom  reported  on  June  7th.  No 
less  than  fourteen  different  breastworks  were 
created  at  various  points  on  the  irregular 
crest  of  the  island.  Three  of  them  were  lo 
cated  in  a  line  to  command  the  whole  sweep 
of  the  land  approach  to  the  point,  while  six 
others  were  placed  where  they  would  com 
mand  storming  patriots  that  might  approach 
from  various  points. 

In  front  of  the  line  of  three  breastworks 
was  placed  a  strong  line  of  abatis,  reaching 
144 


Stony  Point 


across  the  island  from  water  to  water,  and 
another  line  of  abatis  was  drawn  across  far 
ther  out  from  the  west  shore,  where  it  would 
protect  the  irregularly  placed  works  just 
mentioned. 

In  the  breastworks  were  mounted  "two  24 
Prs.  and  two  18  Prs.,  four  12  Prs.,  six  6  Prs., 
and  one  3  Pr.,  one  10  Inch  Mortar,  one  8  Inch 
Howitzer,  two  Royal  Mortars,  and  two  Co- 
horns"  (Gen.  Pattison's  letter  to  Lord  Town- 
shend).  The  post  was  garrisoned  by  607 
men,  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Henry  John 
son,  of  the  Seventeenth  British  Regiment  of 
foot,  and  to  them  came  three  deserters  from 
the  American  army  soon  after  Washington 
reached  Smith's  Cove.  So  well  adapted  for 
defense  was  the  point  both  by  nature  and  by 
the  works  created  that  the  garrison  habitu 
ally  spoke  of  it  as  their  "Little  Gibraltar." 

All  these  works  for  defense  Wayne  saw 
as  he  gazed  upon  the  point  from  the  heights 
of  Donderberg,  and  on  July  3d  he  reported  to 
Washington,  saying,  "I  do  not  think  a  storm 
practicable,"  but  when  he  came  to  talk  the 
matter  over  with  Washington,  and  the  possi 
bilities  of  success  in  case  a  storm  was  at 
tempted,  were  considered,  Wayne  said  to  his 
chief : 

145 


Anthony  Wayne 

"General,  I'll  storm  hell,  if  you  will  plan 
it." 

Some  fastidious  people  have  tried  to 
throw  a  shade  of  doubt  over  the  account  (in 
Irving's  Washington)  which  gives  these  vig 
orous  words  of  Wayne,  but  it  was  unquestion 
ably  in  Wayne  to  say  just  that. 

At  Wayne's  suggestion  Washington  him 
self  went  (July  6th),  with  an  escort  of  the 
light  infantry,  to  take  a  look  at  the  point,  and 
because  of  the  strength  of  the  works,  it  was 
then  decided  to  make  a  night  assault  rather 
than  to  try  to  storm  it  by  day. 

The  details  of  the  preparation  for  the  as 
sault  are  of  special  interest  to  this  biography. 
It  was  then  that  Wayne  wrote  to  Washington 
(July  8th)  to  say:  "I  have  an  insuperable 
bias  in  favor  of  an  elegant  uniform."  Next 
he  asked  that  a  copy  of  Baron  Steuben's  text 
book  of  instructions  in  the  manual  of  anus 
and  field  maneuvers  be  furnished  to  each  offi 
cer  of  the  corps.  And  then  he  said:  "Your 
excellency  must  must  have  observed  how 
wretchedly  our  platoon  officers  are  armed," 
and  asked  that  50  "espontoons  "—a  short- 
handled,  broad-bladed,  keen-pointed  spear— 
"the  neatest  and  best"  to  be  had,  might  be 
sent  to  him.  And  they  were  wanted  quickly, 
146 


Stony  Point 


says  Wayne,  "as  I  wish  immediately  to  prac 
tise  with  them." 

He  got  the  spears,  but  only  a  few  of  the 
books,  and  no  fine  uniforms  at  all. 

As  the  time  passed  Wayne  kept  "a  small 
party  of  rifle  men  hovering  about  "  the  point. 
They  had  orders  to  keep  the  enemy  "in  con 
stant  alarm,  with  a  promise  of  20  dollars 
bounty  for  each  deserter  from  our  army  that 
they  can  take  up."  "I  have  given  the  most 
pointed  orders  against  a  surprise,"  he  adds, 
"and  not  to  trust  any  man  in  that  country." 

On  July  10th  Washington  decided  on  the 
plan  of  attack.  He  sent  it  to  Wayne,  going 
into  considerable  detail,  and  yet  allowing  him 
to  change  it  as  might  seem  best  when  the  time 
came.  Accordingly,  on  July  llth,  Wayne, 
with  his  colonels,  Butler  and  Febiger — the 
light  infantry  selected  east  of  the  Hudson  had 
been  left  there  lest  transferring  them  across  to 
Sandy  Beach  might  arouse  suspicion — made 
another  careful  examination  of  the  land  about 
the  point,  and  this  was  followed  by  the  most 
careful  patrolling  of  the  land  by  "Light-Horse 
Harry  "  Lee,  with  150  scouts,  and  by  Captain 
James  Chrystie,  of  Pennsylvania,  with  a 
smaller  detachment,  while  Captain  Allen  Mc- 
Lane  had  charge  of  the  sentries.  So  thor- 
147 


Anthony  Wayne 


ough  was  the  work  of  keeping  all  knowledge 
of  the  movement  from  the  enemy  that  Cap 
tain  McLane  arrested  "the  Widow  Calhoun 
and  another  widow  going  to  the  enemy  with 
chickens  and  greens,"  while  the  men  under 
Lee  killed  every  dog  within  3  miles  of  the 
point  lest  the  bark  of  a  cur  give  an  untimely 
warning. 

Finally,  on  July  14th,  the  light-infantry 
regiments  lying  east  of  the  river  were  brought 
across  to  Sandy  Beach,  where  they  were  hut 
ted  in  brush  and  bark  shelters,  for  Wayne 
had  been  ordered  to  start  for  Stony  Point  the 
next  day  at  noon.  At  this  time  not  a  man  in 
the  ranks,  nor  even  the  field-officers,  save 
those  that  had  been  scouting,  knew  what 
work  was  in  hand.  Late  in  the  next  morning 
all  the  battalions  of  light  infantry — 1,350  men 
all  told — were  ordered  out  on  parade,  and 
the  order  said  distinctly  that  every  man  must 
appear  "fresh  shaved  and  well  powdered," 
and  fully  equipped  and  rationed,  that  the  gen 
eral  might  judge  of  their  provision  and  readi 
ness  for  service  (Johnston). 

"Fresh  shaved  and  well  powdered"  the 

men  lined  up,  and  Wayne  and  his  field-officers 

walked  down  the  long  line,  looking  at  each 

musket  to  see  that  it  was  fit  for  work,  and  into 

148 


Stony  Point 


each  haversack  to  see  that  the  proper  food 
was  there,  too.  And  it  is  certain  that  the  men 
were  commended,  where  possible,  and  made 
cheerful  and  self-confident. 

At  noon  precisely,  July  15,  1779,  the  in 
spection  was  finished,  but  when  the  men  were 
listening  for  the  order  to  break  ranks  and 
return  to  their  huts  for  dinner  they  were 
faced  south  and  marched  down  along  the 
plateau  on  which  they  had  paraded,  as  far  as 
Fort  Montgomery.  There  they  turned  to  the 
west  and  filed  into  the  gorge  between  Bear 
Mountain  on  their  left  and  Torn  Mountain  on 
the  right.  A  small  detachment  of  artillery 
with  two  guns  followed  them,  but  the  guns 
were  not  to  take  part  in  the  assault. 

The  route  was  but  a  wilderness  trail,  and 
in  perfect  silence  the  men  in  single  file 
marched  along  on  the  mountainside  where 
the  deer  had  at  one  time  marked  the  trail. 
The  primeval  forest  was  over  and  around 
them  for  perhaps  5  miles  from  the  starting- 
point.  The  route  bent  somewhat  to  the  south 
west  after  entering  the  mountains,  and  5 
miles  from  Fort  Montgomery  they  reached 
the  wilderness  home  of  one  Clement.  Here, 
beside  a  brook,  the  command  stopped  to  rest, 
for  it  was  a  hot,  midsummer's  day.  Under 
149 


Anthony  Wayne 


the  strictest  orders  from  Wayne  not  a  man 
had  been  allowed  to  leave  the  column,  and 
now  while  they  were  at  rest  no  man  could 
leave  it  unless  a  commissioned  officer  went 
with  him. 

When  refreshed,  the  men  marched  on, 
turning  to  the  south  and  southeast  a  short  way 
beyond  Clement's,  and  passing  over  the  south 
west  end  of  Donderberg  Mountain,  they  de 
scended  part  way  into  a  valley,  and  at  eight 
o'clock  at  night  arrived  at  the  farm  of  one 
David  Springsteel,  from  whose  home  one 
could  look  down,  by  day,  upon  Stony  Point, 
just  a  mile  and  a  half  away. 

At  this  point  the  men  first  learned  what 
work  they  were  to  do  that  night.  Gathering 
up  the  long  file  of  men,  Febiger  formed  a 
column  with  his  own  regiment  at  the  head,  that 
of  Colonel  Meigs  next,  and  a  battalion  under 
Major  Hull  last.  Colonel  Butler  then  formed 
another  column  with  his  own  regiment  at  the 
head,  and  including  all  the  remainder  of  the 
light  infantry,  except  Major  Murfree's  battal 
ion,  which  was  formed  in  a  column  by  itself. 

Then  from  each  of  the  two  main  columns 

150    " determined    and    picked    men"    were 

chosen,   and   placed   in   column   each   about 

20  paces   in   advance   of  the   column   from 

150 


Stony  Point 


which  it  had  been  selected — in  the  post  of 
honor.  Lieutenant  -  Colonel  Fleury  com 
manded  Febiger's  advanced  detachment; 
Major  "Jack  "  Steward  that  of  Colonel  But 
ler. 

The  order  of  battle  was  now  read  to  the 
command  in  a  low  but  distinct  voice.  The 
men  had  come  thus  far  with  unloaded  mus 
kets  and  fixed  bayonets.  They  were  now, 
save  Murfree's,  commanded  to  keep  their 
muskets  unloaded,  and  the  officers  were  in 
structed  to  kill  instantly  any  man  who  should 
disobey  this  order.  The  work  must  be  done 
with  the  bayonet,  save  only  as  all  the  offi 
cers  were  armed  with  the  short-handled, 
keen-pointed  spears  for  which  Wayne  had 
written. 

"The  General  has  the  fullest  confidence  in 
the  bravery  and  fortitude  of  the  corps," 
said  Wayne,  but  in  order  to  show  appreci 
ation  of  the  exhibition  of  special  bravery  and 
fortitude,  the  first  five  men  to  enter  the  ene 
my's  works  were  to  receive  $500,  $400,  $300, 
$200,  and  $100,  in  the  order  in  which  they 
entered,  while  the  first  of  all  was  to  have  pro 
motion  also.  On  the  other  hand,  "should 
there  be  any  soldier  so  lost  to  the  feeling  of 
Honor  as  to  attempt  to  retreat  one  single  foot 
151 


Anthony  Wayne 


or  skulk  in  the  face  of  danger,  the  Officer  next 
to  him  is  immediately  to  put  him  to  death — 
that  he  may  no  longer  disgrace  the  name 
of  a  Soldier,  or  the  Corps  or  State  he  be 
longs  to." 

"The  misconduct  of  one  man  is  not  to  put 
the  whole  troops  in  danger  or  disorder,  and 
be  suffered  to  pass  with  life,"  said  Wayne. 

It  was  explained  meantime  that  Colonel 
Febiger's  column  was  to  march  to  the  south 
ern  end  of  the  swamp  that  protected  Stony 
Point,  and  after  crossing  on  the  sand-bar 
there,  was  to  charge  up  the  south  side  of  the 
point.  With  Febiger's  column  Wayne  was  to 
march.  Colonel  Butler  was  to  pass  to  the 
northern  end  of  the  swamp,  cross  a  sand-bar 
there,  and  charge  up  the  north  side  of  the 
point.  In  the  meantime  Major  Murfree  was 
to  lead  his  men  slowly  down  the  causeway, 
with  muskets  loaded,  and  as  soon  as  he  should 
hear  the  column  at  the  south  end  of  the 
swamp  under  fire,  he  was  to  charge  across 
the  causeway  bridge  and  fire  as  rapidly  as 
possible  in  order  to  lead  the  enemy  to  sup 
pose  that  the  main  attack  was  to  be  made 
there. 

Last  of  all,  Colonel  Febiger  and  Colonel 
Butler  chose  each  20  men  from  their  guards 
152 


Stony   Point 

of  honor,  and  these  20  slung  their  muskets 
on  their  backs,  and  with  suitable  tools  for 
destroying  the  abatis,  took  places  ahead  of 
all.  Each  little  squad  of  20  was  to  clear 
the  way  for  the  column  behind  it,  and 
then,  if  they  lived,  they  were  to  join,  musket 
in  hand,  in  the  charge  on  the  breastworks. 
And  as  a  striking  proof  of  the  spirit  of  the 
whole  command,  there  was  an  instant  quarrel 
among  the  junior  officers  for  the  honor  of 
leading  these  little  squads,  and  the  quarrel 
had  to  be  settled  by  casting  lots.  Captain  Gib 
bons  had  the  good  luck  to  win  command  of  the 
squad  in  Butler's  column,  and  Lieutenant 
George  Knox  won  command  of  the  other. 

Meantime  every  man  had  received  a  piece 
of  white  paper  which  he  secured  to  his  hat  to 
distinguish  friends  from  the  enemy,  and  it 
was  ordered  that  "when  the  works  are  forced, 
and  not  before,  the  victorious  troops,  as  they 
enter,  will  give  the  watchword  '  The  fort  is 
ours.'  " 

When  the  work  had  been  fully  explained 
to  the  command,  Wayne,  with  a  few  of  his 
officers,  went  down  toward  the  point  to  make 
a  final  exploration  of  the  routes  over  which 
the  three  divisions  were  to  march.  The  ex 
act  routes  to  the  sand-bars  and  the  causeway 
11  153 


Anthony  Wayne 

were  followed  carefully  and  found  clear. 
The  party  then  returned  to  Springsteel's 
house,  where  Wayne  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  Febiger's  column,  and  at  11.30  o'clock  pre 
cisely  gave  the  word : 

"Fprward." 

Silently  the  columns  marched  down  the 
long  grade  until  within  a  mile  of  the  swamp, 
when  each  headed  alone  for  its  post.  Skirt 
ing  the  swamp,  Wayne  and  his  column 
reached  the  sand-bar  which  they  were  to  cross, 
only  to  find  that  the  tide  had  covered  it  waist- 
deep.  But  without  a  pause  they  waded  in, 
and  at  12.30  o'clock  as  the  advanced  squad 
first  splashed  the  water,  a  British  sentry 
heard  the  noise,  saw  an  advancing  column, 
arid  opened  fire. 

At  that  Murf  ree's  men  made  a  spluttering 
dash  at  the  bridge  on  the  causeway,  and 
Wayne's  column,  with  hastening  steps, 
crossed  the  neck  of  water  200  yards  wide. 
Before  they  were  half-way  over  the  British 
had  manned  the  breastworks  and  began  firing 
with  great  guns  and  small,  but  the  Americans 
charged  on  with  bayonets  ready.  As  they 
attacked  the  abatis  17  of  the  little  advanced 
squad  ahead  of  Wayne's  column  were  shot 
down  and  Wayne  was  struck  in  the  head  with 
154 


Stony   Point 


a  musket  ball  that  knocked  him  to  the  ground. 
But  he  shouted : 

"March  on!"  And  then  said  to  his  aids: 
"Help  me  into  the  fort.  Let  me  die  at  the 
head  of  my  column." 

They  marched  on.  The  British  were 
pitchforked  from  their  guns  in  the  breast 
works,  and  with  the  agile  Frenchman  Fleury 
leading  all,  they  dashed  into  the  midst  of  the 
fortified  camp,  and  shouted  in  voices  heard 
from  Dunderberg  to  Verplanck's  Point:  "The 
fort  is  ours !  The  fort's  our  own !  " 

To  these  cries  Butler's  men,  though  they 
had  had  a  longer  route  to  cover,  gave  quick 
response,  for  they  came  in  over  the  north- 
side  breastworks  with  the  spirit  that  had  been 
shown  on  the  south. 

And  as  the  Americans  raised  their  shouts 
of  triumph  the  British,  by  the  score,  threw 
away  their  arms  and  kneeling  down,  cried : 

"Mercy !  Mercy,  dear  Americans !  Quar 
ter  !  Quarter !" 

At  that  the  slaughter  stopped  instantly. 
The  British  flag  was  hauled  down  (by 
Fleury)  and  the  guns  that  would  bear  were 
turned  on  the  British  war-ship  Vulture,  lying 
at  anchor  in  the  river. 

The  victory  was  quickly  won;  and  it  was 
155 


Anthony  Wayne 

complete  and  satisfactory.  Sixty-three  of 
the  enemy  had  been  killed,  543  taken  prison 
ers  (of  whom  70  were  wounded),  and  one  man 
escaped  by  swimming  to  the  Vulture.  The 
Americans  lost  15  killed  and  83  wounded,  of 
whom  nearly  two-thirds  belonged  to  the  col 
umn  with  Wayne. 

Wayne,  as  said,  was  one  of  the  wounded, 
but  his  wound  quickly  healed,  and  he  gave  it 
no  more  notice  than  he  had  given  to  the  slight 
touches  he  got  (in  one  hand  and  one  foot)  at 
Germantown.  The  spoils  at  Stony  Point 
amounted  to  15  good  cannon  and  some  valu 
able  stores. 

Having  made  everything  secure,  Wayne, 
at  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  16th,  sent 
this  despatch  to  Washington : 

"The  fort  and  garrison  with  Col.  Johnson 
are  ours. 

"  Our  officers  &  men  behaved  like  men  who 
are  determined  to  be  free." 

And  when  daylight  came  he  wrote  this 
general  order: 

"General  Wayne  returns  his  warmest 
thanks  to  the  officers  and  soldiers  for  their 
coolness  and  intrepidity  in  the  storm  on  the 
enemy's  works  at  this  place  on  the  night  of 
the  15th  inst. 

156 


Stony  Point 

"The  perfect  execution  of  orders  and  the 
superior  gallantry  exhibited  on  the  occasion 
reflects  the  highest  honor  on  the  troops  en 
gaged." 

In  its  effects  upon  the  war  for  independ 
ence  the  capture  of  Stony  Point  was  a  stimu 
lant  only ;  it  carried  the  patient  through  a  de 
pressing  period.  The  country  had  been  dis 
couraged  because  Washington  had  been 
obliged  to  act  wholly  on  the  defensive.  The 
expeditions  sent  out  by  Clinton  to  ravage  the 
Connecticut  coast  and  the  Chesapeake  (when 
Norfolk  was  burned)  had  furnished  the 
short-sighted  with  arguments  for  denouncing 
the  army,  and  especially  the  Commander-in- 
Chief.  But  as  the  story  of  Stony  Point 
spread  over  the  land  (though  the  post  was 
soon  abandoned),  the  populace  became  half 
wild  with  enthusiasm. 

Moreover,  "Wayne  had  demonstrated  anew 
that  when  once  the  patriots  had  been  trained 
as  soldiers  they  could  "  fight  any  upon  the  face 
of  the  earth,"  as  Washington  had  declared 
with  unmistakable  emphasis.  The  victory 
also  portrayed  one  other  characteristic  of  the 
American  soldier,  as  shall  appear,  and  it 
brought  the  British  back  hastily  from  their 
brutal  raid  on  the  Connecticut  coast. 
157 


Anthony  Wayne 


Congress  voted  thanks  to  Wayne,  Fleury, 
Steward,  Gibbons,  Knox,  and  a  Mr.  Henry  W. 
Archer,  who  was  present  as  a  volunteer  aid 
to  Wayne.  A  gold  medal  was  given  to 
Wayne,  and  silver  medals  to  Fleury  and 
Steward,  while  Gibbons,  Knox,  and  Archer 
were  brevetted  captains. 

Congress  commended  (July  26,  1779) 
Wayne  "for  his  brave,  prudent,  and  soldierly 
conduct  in  the  spirited  and  well-conducted  at 
tack  on  Stony  Point."  They  saw,  though  but 
dimly,  what  we  can  now  see  most  clearly— 
that  Wayne's  preparations  for  the  attack  were 
of  more  importance  than  the  "  spirited  "  dash 
up  the  slope.  Anybody  with  physical  cour 
age  and  enthusiasm — a  French  colonel,  for  in 
stance — could  lead  in  such  a  dash  as  well  as 
Wayne,  but  the  real  ability  of  the  man  was 
seen  when  he  trained  his  men;  appealed  to 
their  pride  by  making  them  shave  and  pow 
der  their  hair;  watched  them  that  no  traitor 
should  sneak  from  the  ranks ;  took  them  to  the 
point  of  attack  in  ample  time ;  pointed  out  the 
reward  of  valor,  and  prescribed  death  for  the 
coward ;  made  careful  examination,  and  then, 
when  fully  prepared,  took  his  place,  spear  in 
hand,  and  gave  the  word. 

Naturally  Wayne  was  flooded  with  letters 
158 


H 


Stony  Point 


of  congratulation,  but  it  is  better  to  tell  here 
what  Wayne  did,  rather  than  what  people 
said  of  him. 

Nevertheless  there  is  a  special  reason  for 
quoting  one  extract  from  the  letter  of  Dr. 
Benjamin  Rush,  the  Congressman  already 
quoted  in  another  chapter.  Rush  was  a  poli 
tician,  but  in  spite  of  that,  and  in  spite  of  the 
smoke  and  the  glint  of  steel  that  blinded  all 
others,  as  they  read  the  story  of  Stony  Point, 
he  saw  the  one  feature  of  that  assault  that 
is  of  all  others  most  memorable.  Writing  on 
August  6th,  he  said: 

"You  have  established  the  national  character 
of  our  Country.  You  have  taught  our  ene 
mies,  that  bravery,  humanity  and  magnanimity 
are  the  national  virtues  of  the  Americans." 

That  is  the  exact  truth,  forcefully  stated, 
and  it  is  the  most  important  statement  made 
or  to  be  made  in  connection  with  the  assault 
upon  Stony  Point.  In  granting  mercy  as 
soon  as  the  enemy  begged  for  it,  Wayne  did 
just  what  Rush  says  he  did. 

By  the  European  standard  of  humanity 
in  that  day,  and  for  many  years  afterward,  it 
was  entirely  justifiable  to  massacre  the  gar 
rison  of  a  fort  that  was  carried  by  assault. 
One  might  fill  pages  with  the  accounts  of  the 
159 


Anthony  Wayne 


merciless  deeds  of  British  soldiers  in  that 
war.  But  at  the  assault  on  Stony  Point,  An 
thony  Wayne — "Mad"  Anthony,  some  called 
him — "established  the  national  character  of 
our  country,"  and  "taught  our  enemies  that 
bravery,  humanity  and  magnanimity  are  the 
national  virtues  of  the  Americans." 

Wayne  often  declared  that  "it  is  in  our 
power  to  produce  a  Conviction  to  the  world 
that  we  deserve  Success,"  and  when  his  force, 
gathered  from  the  length  of  the  land,  showed 
their  humanity  at  Stony  Point,*  they  did  more 
to  prove  the  truth  of  his  words  than  was  done 
in  any  battle  during  the  whole  course  of  the 
war. 

*  Stony  Point  battle-field  has  now  become  State  property, 
having  recently  been  purchased  from  private  owners.  The  ac 
companying  map  shows  in  outline  the  State  reservation.  The 
custody  of  this  property  was  at  the  time  temporarily  confided  by 
the  State  to  the  American  Scenic  and  Historic  Preservation 
Society,  and  an  appropriation  was  made  for  the  building  by  the 
society  of  a  landing-pier,  the  construction  of  roads,  and  for 
making  other  improvements  necessary  in  order  to  render  the 
reservation  accessible  to  visitors.  The  celebration  of  the  com 
pletion  of  these  improvements  and  a  formal  transfer  of  the 
property  back  to  the  State  was  made  in  July,  1902,  on  the  anni 
versary  of  the  battle,  when  the  Governors  of  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania  and  several  other  distinguished  persons  were 
present,  the  attendance  by  people  in  general  numbering  several 
thousand.  The  Scenic  Society  published  at  the  time  an  account 
of  the  battle  and  its  scene,  written  by  the  secretary  of  the  so 
ciety,  Mr.  Edward  Hagaman  Hall. 

160 


BI 


Work  A.  "  Rui 
stroyed  by  the  Aine 
U.  S.  Lighthouse. 

Work  B.  Earth 
magazine." 

Work  C.  "  On< 
Elevation  130  feet. 

Work  D. 

Work  E. 

Work  F. 
feet. 

Work  G. 

Work  H. 
101  feet. 

Work  I. 
feet. 

Work  J. 

Work  O. 

Work  Q. 

Work  R. 

Work  S. 


"One 

"One 
"Om 

"  One 

Eleva 
Eleva 
Eleva, 
Eleva1- 
Eleva 


1. 


Two  corn 


3.  "  Sixty  of  tr 

4.  "  The'Grena 

5.  "A  Detach  r      * 

6.  Approach  oi 

July  15-16,  1779.    STATE  R 

7.  American  ri 
on  British  map. 

8.  Major    Murf 
center. 

9.  Approach  o 


The  fourteen  work 
of  the  Surprise  of 
American  Army  coin 
15th  of  July,  1779.     , 
son,  Lt.  17th  Regt., 
Hills,  Lr,.  23d  Regt. 
Wm.    Faden,    Geogr 
They  were  located 
Preservation  Society] 
the  permission  of  th< 
A.  L.  Mills,  U.  8.  I ' 
Academy  at  West  Pu^ 
James  P.   Jervey. 
ground,  and  may  be*'/ 
Works   A  to  I.  inclu/ 
on  the    British  map/ 
the  British  map  wit! 
the  U.  S.  Engineers, 
from  the  British  ma] 
The  linos  of  approao 
ferry  guard,  abatis  t 
Route  7   is  nndoub1 
evidence  indicates  t 
correct. 


/'     STONY   POINT 

'7 

f 

BATTLE     FIELD. 


E  d^aretHno*-?**  ft*"   '*>t 


CHAPTER   XVI 

THE  "COW  CHACE,"  THE  TREASON  OF  ARNOLD, 
AND  THE  MUTINY  OF  THE  PENNSYLVANIA 
LINE 

THE  light  infantry  remained  under  "Wayne 
until  the  end  of  the  year,  when  the  corps  was 
disbanded.  Of  all  that  was  done  and  re 
corded  in  connection  with  this  corps  after  the 
assault  on  Stony  Point,  one  fact  only  is  mem 
orable  here.  When,  in  December,  the  Virgin 
ians  under  Colonel  Febiger  were  detached  by 
order  of  Congress  and  sent  to  their  own 
State,  Wayne  was  obliged  to  write : 

"Colonel  Febiger  will  march  to-morrow  at 
8  A.M.,  but  for  iv ant  of  shoes  he  must  carry  a 
great  many  of  his  people  in  wagons." 

Congress  would  provide  medals,  but  no 
shoes. 

The  corps  having  been  disbanded  on  De 
cember  31st,  Wayne  went  home  to  await  or 
ders,  which  he  received  in  May  (dated  the 
18th),  1780,  wherein  Washington  said: 

"I  shall  be  very  happy  to  see  you  at  camp 
again,  and  hope  you  will,  without  hesitation, 
161 


Anthony  Wayne 


resume  your  command  in  the  Penn'a  line." 
This  summons,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  was 
to  have  command  of  a  brigade  only,  Wayne 
very  gladly  obeyed.  The  inefficient  St.  Clair 
still  commanded  the  Pennsylvania  Line. 

In  July  a  small  expedition  was  planned, 
with  Wayne  in  command.  He  was  to  go  down 
to  the  peninsula  between  the  Hudson  and  the 
Hackensack  rivers,  gather  up  the  cattle  and 
forage  there,  on  which  the  British  were  feed 
ing,  and  at  the  same  time  make  such  an  attack 
on  a  blockhouse  filled  with  Tories  behind 
Bergen  Heights  as  would  be  likely  to  draw  a 
considerable  force  of  the  British  over  from 
New  York,  for  whom  an  effective  ambush  was 
prepared. 

"The  lure,"  as  Wayne  wrote,  "had  liked 
to  take  the  wished  effect.  Three  thousand 
men,  consisting  of  the  flower  of  the  British 
army,  were  embarked  "  after  the  attack  was 
made  on  the  blockhouse,  and  they  "stood 
down  the  river  hovering  off  the  landing  near 
fort  Lee,  where  the  6th  &  7th  Penns'a  Regi 
ments  lay  concealed,  with  directions  to  let 
them  land  unmolested  &  then  meet  them  in  the 
Gorge  of  the  Defile  with  the  point  of  the 
bayonet."  But  the  British  failed  to  land,  and 
after  gathering  in  the  cattle,  Wayne  marched 
162 


The  "Cow  Chace" 

off,  leaving  the  blockhouse  in  possession  of 
the  Tories. 

It  was  an  incident  of  no  consequence  in 
the  war,  although  it  is  said  to  have  prevented 
a  British  raiding  expedition  to  the  Connecti 
cut  coast,  but  there  is  some  interest  attached 
to  it  here.  The  British  officers,  to  cheer  up 
the  spirits  of  their  men  who  were  becoming 
gloomy  because  they  had  been  cooped  up  for 
more  than  a  year  in  New  York,  proclaimed 
the  skirmish  as  a  great  victory  for  the  Tories, 
while  Major  Andre  wrote  a  long  string  of 
verses  about  it  under  the  title  of  TI&Q^Qow 
.Chace.  The  verses  appeared  in  the  Royal 
Gazette,  August  16,  1780,  and  were  afterward 
printed  in  pamphlet  form  for  distribution 
among  the  soldiers.  A  copy  of  the  pamphlet, 
it  is  said,  has  been  sold  at  auction  for  $750 
in  recent  years.  This  alone  would  make  the 
incident  notable  among  bibliomaniacs,  but  the 
verses  themselves  are  memorable  because  of 
the  view  they  give  of  the  mental  attitude  of 
the  British  (and  all  Europe  for  that  matter) 
toward  the  American  patriots. 

The  opening  stanza  read: 

To  drive  the  Kine  one  summer's  morn, 

The  tanner  took  his  way, 
The  calf  shall  rue  that  is  unborn 

The  jumbling  of  that  day. 
163 


Anthony  Wayne 

Then  in  Canto  III  Andre  describes  the  re 
turn  of  the  Americans  as  a  retreat,  and  says 
of  the  junction  of  two  detachments : 

As  when  two  kennels  in  the  street, 

Swell'd  with  a  recent  rain, 
In  gushing-  streams  together  meet, 

And  seek  the  neighboring  drain, 

So  met  these  dung-born  tribes  in  one, 

As  swift  in  their  career, 
And  so  to  Newbridge  they  ran  on — 

But  all  the  cows  got  clear. 

To  destroy  the  glory  which  Wayne  had 
gained  at  Stony  Point  it  was  only  necessary, 
by  European  standards,  to  mention  the  fact 
that  he  was  a  "tanner."  Andre's  contempt 
for  the  Americans  emphasizes  the  European 
point  of  view.  In  Europe,  birth  in  a  caste 
gave  eminence,  and  the  family  tree  was  every 
thing.  In  America  every  capable  member  of 
one  of  those  " dung-born  tribes  "  could  (and 
yet  can)  have  his  chance.  And  there  is  hope 
for  England,  and  therefore  for  all  Europe. 
A  butcher  has  been  knighted  there,  and  he  is 
in  these  days  (1903)  a  close  personal  friend 
of  the  King.  Even  in  England  worth  will  yet 
outweigh  birth. 

As  the  summer  of  1780  wore  away  and 
nothing  was  done,  the  stupor  that  the  long  in- 
164 


The   "Cow   Chace" 

action  of  both  armies  generated  in  the  minds 
of  the  American  people  seems  to  have  af 
fected  Wayne  even  more  seriously  than  the 
sufferings  in  the  winter  camps  had  done.  How 
far  his  gloomy  state  of  mind  had  carried  him 
at  one  time  we  can  see  from  a  letter  dated 
September  17,  1780,  and  written  to  President 
Eeed,  of  Pennsylvania.  He  says : 

"I  have  fully  &  deliberately  considered 
every  possible  vicissitude  of  fortune.  I  know 
that  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  the  British  to 
subjugate  a  mind  determined  to  be  free. 
Whilst  I  am  master  of  my  own  sword,  I  am  gov 
ernor  of  my  own  fate.  I  therefore  only  fear 
(but  greatly  fear)  for  that  of  my  country." 
(Italics  not  in  original.) 

No  doubt  a  part  of  this  gloom — perhaps  a 
greater  part — was  due  to  the  attitude  of  the 
officers  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line  under  him, 
when  one  William  Macpherson  was  commis 
sioned  as  a  major  by  Congress.  It  was  a 
promotion  by  political  influence,  and  for  no 
service  rendered.  And  the  worst  of  it  was 
that  he  was  to  have,  by  order  of  Congress,  a 
position  in  the  light-infantry  corps,  where 
only  men  who  had  proved  their  prowess  had  a 
right  to  serve,  and  a  wholesale  resignation  of 
officers  was  at  one  time  (August  10th)  ex- 
165 


Anthony  Wayne 


pected  in  the  Pennsylvania  Line,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  act  of  Congress. 

Wayne  and  William  Irvine  (who  had  been 
made  a  brigadier)  united  in  an  appeal  to 
these  officers  that  was  characteristic.  It  said : 

For  God's  sake  be  yourselves,  and  as  a  band  of 
Brothers  rise  superior  to  every  Injury,  whether 
real  or  imaginary,  at  least  for  this  campaign,  which 
probably  will  produce  a  conviction  to  the  World, 
that  America  owes  her  freedom  to  the  temporary 
sacrifice  you  now  make. 

You  will  also  reflect  that  this  favor  is  solicited 
by  men  who  would  bleed  to  Death,  drop  by  drop, 
to  defend  your  honor. 

They  knew  the  sincerity  of  those  words. 
The  most  important  feature  in  the  character 
of  Anthony  Wayne  is  his  entire  and  never- 
failing  sincerity.  They  knew,  too,  that  not 
one  of  them,  nor  all  of  them  together,  had 
more  than  a  fraction  of  the  cause  of  complaint 
of  ill  treatment  that  Wayne  had,  and  the  ap 
peal  was  effective. 

Then  came  the  treason  of  Arnold.  It 
seems  worth  while,  in  a  story  of  a  life  of  un 
selfish  patriotism  which  this  biography  of  An 
thony  Wayne  gives,  to  say  a  word  about  the 
treason  of  Arnold  by  way  of  contrast. 
166 


Arnold's  Treason 

The  modern  writers  who  have  told  the 
story  of  Arnold's  heroic  deeds,  with  a  view 
of  palliating  his  crime,  have  shown  themselves 
utterly  incapable  of  comprehending  the 
events,  and  wholly  unable  to  appreciate  the 
true  standard  of  American  patriotism.  In 
stead  of  Arnold's  heroism  serving  as  pallia* 
tion  for  his  treason,  it  does  but  consign  him 
to  the  deeper  damnation.  Private  soldiers 
by  the  hundred  deserted  to  the  enemy.  Lieu 
tenants  and  captains  in  a  trivial  host  fol 
lowed.  Even  Deane,  our  first  envoy  to 
France,  became  a  traitor;  but  all  this  was  so 
quickly  forgotten  that  only  the  students  of 
history  know  the  facts.  Nor  was  it  for  the 
help  he  gave  the  British  that  Arnold  is  to  be 
condemned. 

The  utterly  unforgivable  feature  of  his 
crime  is  found  in  the  fact  that  it  was  while 
standing  before  the  people  as  a  popular  hero, 
and  in  a  position  to  give  inspiration  to  his 
countrymen  of  the  most  remote  generation,  he 
plunged  into  the  depths.  He  robbed  us  of  a 
hero.  It  is  because  of  the  brilliancy  of  his  pre 
vious  career  that  in  the  world's  list  of  men 
who  have  sold  themselves  into  hell  there  is 
no  name  blacker  than  that  of  Benedict 
Arnold. 

167 


Anthony  Wayne 


Consider  now  Arnold's  crime.  Recall,  too, 
the  long  list  of  officers  in  the  American  army 
who,  through  pique  or  disappointment,  re 
signed  their  commissions.  And  with  this  in 
mind,  remember  that  Anthony  Wayne,  the 
hero  of  the  Brandywine,  and  of  Germantown, 
and  of  Monmouth,  and  of  Stony  Point,  and  of 
Green  Spring  in  Virginia,  and  of  the  cam 
paign  in  Georgia — Anthony  Wayne,  who 
fought  from  the  ice-bound  North  to  the  fever- 
laden  swamps  of  the  far  South,  served 
through  all  those  campaigns  without  promo 
tion,  paid  his  own  expenses  for  months  at  a 
stretch,  gave  freely  of  his  private  funds  to 
buy  clothing  for  his  men,  and  never  made  even 
one  complaint  about  his  own  ill  treatment. 

It  was  on  September  25th  that  Arnold's 
attempt  to  give  West  Point  to  the  British  was 
discovered.  Wayne  was  at  that  time  sta 
tioned  at  Tappan  (some  distance  below  the 
modern  Nyack),  with  his  brigade  (the  First 
Pennsylvania),  and  General  William  Irvine, 
with  the  Second  Pennsylvania  Brigade,  was 
with  him. 

It  is  recorded  that  when  Washington 
finally  learned  that  Arnold  was  a  traitor  he 
said  in  a  sad  voice  to  Lafayette : 

"Whom  can  we  trust  now?  " 
168 


Arnold's  Treason 

But  when  he  came  to  answer  his  own  ques 
tion  he  turned  as  if  by  instinct  to  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Line. 

The  garrison  at  West  Point  had  been 
scattered  by  Arnold,  and  Washington  looked 
to  see  the  British  come  up  the  river  at  any 
time  to  sweep  the  Americans  by  force  from 
the  Highlands.  There  was  need  of  men  who 
could  come  in  haste,  and  who  would  fight  at 
the  word.  A  messenger  was  sent  galloping 
down  the  trail  to  Tappan.  He  reached 
Wayne's  tent  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
and  soon  the  drums  were  beating  the  call  to 
arms.  The  men  of  both  brigades — Wayne's 
and  Irvine's — sprang  up,  and  with  muskets 
in  hand,  formed  in  line.  And  when  rations 
for  the  day  had  been  secured,  they  marched 
away  through  the  night. 

Most  memorable  was  that  dash  for  the 
Highlands.  For  the  men  had  learned  why 
they  had  been  called.  They  believed  that  the 
safety  of  the  nation  depended  on  their  exer 
tions,  and  "in  four  hours  in  a  dark  night,  with 
out  a  single  halt  or  a  man  left  behind,"  they 
covered  16  miles,  and  reached  the  mouth 
of  the  pass  that  led  from  the  Haverstraw 
landing  through  the  mountains  to  West  Point. 
They  stopped  at  "Smith's  white  house,"  that 
12  169 


Anthony  Wayne 


stood  between  the  main  branches  of  Haver- 
straw  Creek. 

With  honest  pride  Wayne  wrote  to  his 
friend  Hugh  Sheel  (October  2,  1780)  to  say: 
"When  our  approach  was  announced  to  the 
General  he  thought  it  fabulous,  but  when 
convinced  of  the  reality  he  received  us 
like  a  God,  and  retiring  to  take  a  short  re 
pose,  exclaimed,  'All  is  safe  and  I  again  am 
happy!'" 

"The  protection  of  that  important  place  " 
[West  Point],  Wayne  adds,  "is  committed  to 
my  conduct  until  a  proper  garrison  arrives. 
I  shall  not  throw  myself  into  the  works,  but 
will  dispute  the  approaches  inch  by  inch  and  at 
the  point  of  the  bayonet — decide  the  fate  of 
the  day  in  the  Gorge  of  the  Defiles  at  every 
expense  of  blood.  ...  It  is  not  in  our  power 
to  Command  Success,  but  it  is  in  our  power 
to  produce  a  Conviction  to  the  world  that  we 
deserve  it." 

At  the  end  of  the  year  Wayne  had  to  face 
an  experience  that  was  far  more  trying  than 
a  battle  with  any  enemy — an  experience  that 
gave  him,  in  fact,  more  anxiety  than  any 
event  in  his  whole  military  career.  This 
trouble  was  nothing  less  than  the  mutiny  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Line. 
170 


Mutiny  in  Camp 

The  trouble  grew  out  of  the  destitution  of 
the  men  in  their  winter  quarters  as  a  chief 
cause,  but  it  was  complicated  by  one  other 
reason  for  indignation.  The  men,  as  a  body, 
had  enlisted  for  "  three  years  or  during  the 
war."  As  they  understood  the  contract,  it 
meant  that  they  were  to  be  discharged  at  the 
end  of  the  war  if  that  end  came  within  three 
years.  In  any  event,  however,  they  were  to 
be  discharged  at  the  end  of  three  years.  The 
three  years  for  which  they  had  enlisted  ex 
pired  at  the  end  of  December,  1780,  but  as  the 
time  drew  near  they  learned  that  it  was  the 
intention  of  Congress  to  hold  them  "  during 
the  war." 

If  the  men  had  been  comfortably  clothed 
and  sheltered,  and  abundantly  supplied  with 
food,  there  would  have  been  no  mutiny  under 
this  false  interpretation  of  the  contract,  but 
under  the  conditions  of  neglect  that  then  pre 
vailed,  and  had  prevailed  from  the  first,  the 
able  fighting  men  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line 
refused  to  submit. 

A  brief  consideration  of  what  the  condi 
tions  were,  as  portrayed  in  Wayne's  letters, 
will  be  of  interest.  On  October  17th  he  wrote 
from  the  winter  quarters  near  Morristown, 
N.  J.,  to  President  Reed,  of  Pennsylvania,  to 
171 


Anthony  Wayne 


ask  for  "blankets  and  winter  clothing,"  and 
said: 

"We  have  adopted  the  idea  of  curtailing 
the  coats  to  repair  the  elbows  and  other  de 
fective  parts,  for  which  we  shall  immediately 
want  needle  and  thread." 

On  October  25th  he  writes  again  to  say 
that  the  thread  and  needles  had  not  arrived, 
and  that  "every  day  adds  to  our  distress  and 
renders  an  immediate  supply  of  these  arti 
cles  indispensably  necessary."  He  adds : 

"When  the  charge  of  the  Pennsylvania  di 
vision  devolved  on  me  I  thought  of  an  expedi 
ent  of  reducing  the  heterogeneity  of  new,  old, 
cocked,  and  slouched  hats  to  infantry  caps ; 
in  which  we  succeeded  very  well  by  making 
three  decent  caps  out  of  one  tolerable  and 
two  very  ordinary  hats.  .  .  .  We  shall  now 
try  the  experiment  of  making  three  short 
coats  out  of  three  old,  tattered  long  ones.  I 
must  acknowledge  that  they  would  suit  much 
better  for  the  spring  than  fall,  but  without 
something  done  in  this  way  we  shall  be  naked 
in  the  course  of  two  or  three  weeks ;  nor  will 
even  this  expedient  answer  longer  than 
Christmas.  For  God's  sake  use  every  possi 
ble  means  to  procure  clothing  for  both  offi 
cers  and  men  by  that  time  at  farthest." 
172 


Mutiny  in   Camp 

Eeed  replied  "I  am  much  concerned,"  and 
"  Turner  shall  have  orders  to  send  the  needles 
and  thread  required." 

On  November  7th  Wayne  says  emphat 
ically,  "We  never  stood  upon  such  perilous 
ground  as  at  present."  Eeed  replied  that 
"money  matters  lay  entirely  with  the  Assem 
bly,"  and  that  "many  new  members  have  come 
into  the  House  with  expectations  to  lower 
taxes,  not  to  increase  them." 

On  December  16th  Wayne  advises  Reed 
that  "we  are  reduced  to  Dry  bread  and  beef 
with  cold  water  for  sustenance,"  that  of  pay, 
trifling  as  the  value  of  Continental  currency 
then  was,  the  soldiers  "had  not  seen  a  single 
dollar  for  nearly  twelve  months."  Eeed  re 
plied  that  "in  the  exhausted  condition  of  the 
treasury  it  will  be  difficult  to  keep  up  the  sup 
ply  of  stores." 

Even  the  supply  of  "dry  bread  and  beef  " 
grew  scanty.  The  clothing  went  to  pieces,  as 
Wayne  had  predicted.  Half  starved  and 
half  naked,  the  men  became  desperate,  and 
when,  on  January  1,  1781,  they  found  that 
nothing  had  been  done  toward  paying  them 
off  and  discharging  them  from  the  service, 
they  arose  with  arms  in  hand,  as  one  man, 
between  eight  and  nine  o'clock  at  night, 
173 


Anthony  Wayne 


seized  the  camp,  shot  down  three  of  the  offi 
cers  who  strove  with  naked  swords  to  force 
them  into  submission,  and  finally,  after  scour 
ing  the  grand  parade  with  round  and  grape 
shot  from  four  field-pieces,  they  formed  in  a 
solid  column,  1,300  strong,  and  marched 
away. 

John  Adams,  in  a  burst  of  indignation, 
after  St.  Glair's  flight  from  Ticonderoga  had 
said :  "  We  shall  never  be  able  to  defend  a  post 
till  we  shoot  a  general."  These  mutineers 
might  have  said  with  greater  justice:  "We 
shall  never  be  able  to  maintain  the  Nation  till 
we  shoot  a  few  politicians  " ;  and  if  they  had 
said  it,  their  sentiment  would  have  found  sym 
pathy  in  many  breasts  even  to  this  day. 

Wayne  and  his  officers  supposed  that  when 
the  men  marched  from  the  camp  on  the 
heights  of  Morristown  (where  they  had  been 
hutted  at  some  distance  from  other  troops) 
that  they  might  march  to  Elizabethtown  to 
join  the  British.  In  this  the  men  were  greatly 
wronged.  They  were  headed  toward  Phila 
delphia  to  argue  with  Congress  as  a  Crom 
well  might  have  done  it.  On  learning  their  in 
tention,  Wayne,  with  General  Richard  Butler 
and  Colonel  Walter  Stewart,  followed  the 
mutineers  and  remained  with  them  until  the 
174 


Mutiny  in  Camp 

trouble  was  settled.  Under  the  influence  of 
these  officers  the  men  elected  leaders  from 
among  their  sergeants,  maintained  "  an  aston 
ishing  regularity  and  discipline,"  confined 
and  eventually  hanged  two  emissaries  sent 
among  them  by  the  British  to  lead  them  to 
New  York,  and  finally  came  to  an  agreement 
with  President  Keed,  of  Pennsylvania,  by 
which  those  entitled  to  it  were  discharged, 
auditors  were  appointed  to  pay  off  all  the 
men,  some  clothing  was  provided,  and  a  gen 
eral  amnesty  and  oblivion  proclaimed.  In  all 
the  negotiations  Wayne  was  implicitly  trusted 
by  the  revolted  men  and  the  civil  authorities 
alike. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  revolt  the  men 
had  said  to  Wayne,  while  they  held  their 
bayonets  at  his  breast,  "We  love  you,  we  re 
spect  you."  And  when  the  wrongs  of  the  men 
had  been  righted  nearly  two-thirds  of  them 
reenlisted. 

Neither  Congress  nor  the  Pennsylvania 
Assembly  had  been  able  to  find  any  way  to 
relieve  the  men  before  the  revolt,  but  when 
the  two  bodies  of  politicians  learned  that  a 
column  of  determined  men,  1,300  strong,  was 
on  the  way  to  Philadelphia  to  ask  questions 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  means  for  sup- 
175 


Anthony  Wayne 


plying  the  unfortunate  troops  were  quickly 
discovered. 

It  seems  worth  while  pointing  out  that  this 
revolt  was  an  exercise  of  what  in  this  day  is 
called  lynch  law.  It  is  a  shocking  fact,  but 
one  worth  the  most  serious  consideration  of 
every  patriot,  that  at  intervals  throughout  the 
entire  history  of  the  nation,  bodies  of  sober- 
minded  men  have  felt  obliged  to  openly  vio 
late  statute  law  in  order  to  obtain  natural 
rights  and  do  justice.  This  statement  is  not 
made  to  defend  any  form  of  lynch  law,  but 
to  point  out  a  fact  that  has  not  received  suffi 
cient  consideration. 


176 


CHAPTER   XVII 

WAYNE   IN  VIRGINIA 

IN  the  spring  of  1780  Anthony  Wayne  was 
ordered  to  go  South  with  a  detachment  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Line,  800  strong,  and  join  Gen 
eral  Nathanael  Greene,  who  was  then  com 
manding  the  Southern  Department  and  en 
gaged  in  the  work  that  eventually  drove 
Cornwallis  to  Yorktown.  York,  Pa.,  was 
the  rendezvous  of  the  force,  and  when 
Wayne  arrived  he  found  there  "scarcely  a 
horse  or  a  carriage  fit  to  transport  any  part " 
of  the  baggage,  and  what  was  still  worse,  "the 
troops  were  retarded  in  advancing  to  the  gen 
eral  rendezvous  by  the  unaccountable  delay 
of  the  auditors,  appointed  to  settle  and  pay 
the  proportion  of  the  depreciation  due  the 
men."  The  quotations  are  from  Wayne's 
correspondence. 

At  the  time  of  the  mutiny  of  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Line,  as  recounted  in  the  last  chapter, 
the  frightened  Legislature  had  promised  to 
pay  the  Pennsylvania  soldiers  in  full  for  all 
dues,  and  they  kept  their  promise  by  running 
177 


Anthony  Wayne 


a  printing-press  and  issuing  paper  dollars 
"not  equal  to  one-seventh  of  "  their  nominal 
value,  which  they  compelled  the  soldiers  to 
take  at  par.  "This  was  an  alarming  circum 
stance,"  wrote  Wayne  from  York  (May  20, 
1781).  "The  soldiery  but  too  sensibly  felt 
the  imposition."  They  also  remembered  their 
success  in  the  previous  mutiny,  and  on  May 
19th  (the  day  before  the  one  set  for  the  de 
parture),  while  in  line  on  the  parade,  a  num 
ber  of  ringleaders  on  the  right  of  each  regi 
ment  began  to  demand  in  a  loud  voice  that 
they  be  paid  "in  real  and  not  ideal  money," 
and  that  they  were  "no  longer  to  be  trifled 
with." 

"Upon  this  they  were  ordered  to  their 
tents,  which  being  peremptorily  refused,  the 
principals  were  immediately  knocked  down," 
and  confined  by  the  officers,  who  had  learned 
that  trouble  was  coming.  They  were  then 
court-martialed,  the  guilty  were  condemned, 
and  two  of  them  were  hanged,  the  other  guilty 
ones  being  compelled  to  serve  as  executioners. 

"Thus  was  this  hideous  monster"  of  mu 
tiny  "crushed  in  its  birth,"  says  Wayne.  It 
was  a  most  pitiful  if  absolutely  necessary  exe 
cution,  and  the  memory  of  it  is  the  more  piti 
ful  from  the  fact  that  no  way  could  be  found 
178 


Wayne  in  Virginia 

for  hanging  the  members  of  the  Legislature 
who  were  the  real  criminals. 

Wayne  left  York  with  800  men  on  May 
20th,  and  on  June  7th  he  joined  Lafayette, 
who  was  in  command  of  the  American  forces 
in  Virginia.  Cornwallis  had  abandoned 
North  Carolina,  and  had  marched  into  Vir 
ginia,  where,  at  Petersburg,  he  was  joined  on 
May  20th  by  reenforceinents  under  General 
Phillips,  bringing  his  forces  up  to  5,000  men 
— all  veterans  and  well  equipped. 

Lafayette,  having  but  3,000  men,  includ 
ing  raw  militia,  was  driven  north,  and  was 
found  at  Fredericksburg  on  June  7th,  when 
Wayne  joined  him.  Other  additions  brought 
Lafayette's  force  up  to  4,000,  and  Cornwallis, 
though  still  much  stronger,  felt  obliged  to 
march  out  of  a  hostile  country  and  down  to 
navigable  water  in  order  to  draw  supplies 
from  the  British  fleet. 

On  June  20th  he  left  Richmond,  marching 
east,  crossed  the  Chickahominy,  and  then  on 
down  (to  the  southeast)  along  the  peninsula 
between  the  James  and  the  York  Rivers  as 
far  as  Williamsburg. 

In  the  meantime  further  reenforcements 
had  raised  Lafayette's  force  to  6,000  men, 
and  he  therefore  followed  the  enemy  closely 
179 


Anthony  Wayne 

into  the  peninsula,  though  he  did  not  dare  to 
risk  an  open-field  engagement. 

As  usual  under  such  circumstances, 
.Wayne  had  command  at  the  head  of  the  col 
umn,  while  Lafayette  was  following  the  Brit 
ish  down  the  peninsula,  and  thus  found  an 
opportunity  for  the  display  of  the  genius  that 
has  made  him  memorable.  When  Cornwallis 
had  reached  Williamsburg  (on  the  north  side 
of  James  River),  word  was  brought  to  the 
American  camp  (July  6,  1781)  that  the  Brit 
ish  were  crossing  to  the  south  side  of  the 
James  at  Green  Spring,  on  their  way  to 
Portsmouth,  Va. 

At  this  Wayne  was  ordered  forward  with 
his  800  Pennsylvanians  to  reconnoiter,  and,  if 
possible,  to  attack  the  rear-guard  of  the 
enemy  after  the  main  body  had  crossed  the 
river.  On  approaching  Green  Spring  Wayne 
had  to  cross  a  swamp  by  means  of  a  causeway 
(dirt  and  corduroy  road),  and  he  was  advan 
cing  into  the  fields  beyond  the  swamp,  when 
he  discovered  instead  of  the  rear-guard  of 
the  British,  the  whole  British  army  there,  and 
that  they  were  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle. 

Wayne  had  800  men;  the  British  army 
numbered  5,000.  In  crossing  the  causeway 
Wayne  had  entered  the  best  trap  he  had  ever 
180 


Wayne  in  Virginia 

seen.  But  with  the  pluck  that  he  had  dis 
played  when  with  20  men  in  the  edge  of  the 
swamp  at  Three  Rivers  he  held  the  army  of 
Burgoyne  at  bay,  he  now  ordered  forward  his 
riflemen — men  selected  for  their  skill  as 
marksmen — and  they  opened  "a  galling  fire," 
while  a  messenger  was  sent  in  hot  haste  for 
the  whole  American  army  (then  five  miles 
away)  to  come  up  and  join  in.  It  was 
Wayne's  determination  to  force  a  general  en 
gagement  then  and  there  to  end  the  campaign. 

But  while  the  riflemen  were  doing  their 
whole  duty  the  British  recognized  that  the 
number  of  the  men  firing  was  small,  and  be 
gan  to  advance.  Instantly  Wayne  ordered 
forward  two  detachments  to  support  the  rifle 
men,  but  in  vain,  for  the  British  army  of  5,000 
veterans  was  coming.  The  utter  destruction 
of  the  whole  American  force  was  at  hand, 
when  Wayne,  with  the  spirit  of  the  god  of 
battles  surging  in  his  breast,  formed  his  men 
with  bayonets  fixed,  and  charged  the  enemy. 

With  800  men  he  charged  5,000,  and  Corn- 
wallis,  unable  to  suppose  that  such  a  dash 
could  be  made  unless  the  whole  American 
army  was  supporting  it,  halted  his  veterans 
and  allowed  Wayne  to  retreat  in  perfect 
order. 

181 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

WHEN  WAYNE  RECOVERED  GEORGIA 

THEY  called  Wayne  "Mad  Anthony."  The 
origin  of  the  nickname  is  interesting.  So  is 
the  fact  that  it  is  well  remembered  to  this  day 
—remembered  better  than  the  deeds  of  the 
man.  Among  Wayne's  Pennsylvanians  was 
an  Irishman  who  feigned  insanity;  who  was, 
perhaps,  somewhat  out  of  the  usual  run  men 
tally;  who  was  most  useful  to  Wayne  as  a 
spy ;  and  who  had,  withal,  the  bad  habit  of  get 
ting  drunk  and  making  serious  disturbances 
in  camp.  He  was  known  as  "Jemy  the 
Rover,"  and  also  as  "the  Commodore." 

One  day  while  at  work  at  York  preceding 
the  Virginia  campaign  "Jemy  "  was  sent  to 
the  guard-house  for  disorderly  conduct. 
When  on  the  way  he  asked  by  whose  orders 
he  was  to  be  confined.  The  sergeant  in  charge 
said,  "By  the  general's."  "Then  forward," 
said  Jemy,  and  he  was  put  in  the  guard-house. 

A  few  hours  later,  when  released,  he  asked 
the  sergeant  whether  the  general  was  "mad 
182 


When   Wayne    Recovered  Georgia 

or  in  fun  "  when  he  issued  the  order.  The 
sergeant  replied : 

"The  general  has  been  very  much  dis 
pleased  with  your  disorderly  conduct;  and  a 
repetition  of  it  will  be  followed  not  only  by 
confinement,  but  by  twenty-nine  well  laid  on." 

"Then,"  said  Jemy,  "Anthony  is  mad. 
Farewell  to  you.  Clear  the  coast  for  the 
Commodore,  mad  Anthony's  friend." 

He  left  the  camp,  as  he  was  allowed  to  do 
at  will,  and  there  is  a  letter  remaining  in 
which  Wayne  wrote  home  to  say  that  if  this 
"Commodore  "  should  come  that  way  he  was 
to  be  treated  with  kindness  and  his  wants 
supplied. 

Naturally  the  last  words  of  the  Irishman 
as  he  left  the  camp  amused  the  sergeant. 
"Mad  Anthony's  friend,"  indeed!  The  story 
spread  around  the  camp,  and  thence  to  other 
camps. 

There  were  officers  in  the  army  to  whom 
Wayne's  splendid  work  was  a  constant  re 
proach.  They  had  neither  the  ability  nor  the 
courage  to  emulate  him.  But  they  could 
sneeringly  use  the  appellation  "Mad  An 
thony,"  and  they  did  it.  To  the  men  who 
(like  Gates  and  St.  Clair)  had  been  trained 
in  a  foreign  service  (always  excepting  the 
183 


Anthony  Wayne 


noble-hearted  German  Steuben)  this  sneer 
was  a  godsend,  and  to  what  extent  it  pre 
vailed  shall  appear.  But  in  the  meantime 
the  nickname  had  been  taken  up  by  the  public, 
and  the  people  applied,  and  still  apply,  it  as 
an  appellation  of  praise.  For  the  American 
people  are  hero  worshipers,  every  one,  thank 
God!  for  only  heroes  can  appreciate  a  hero. 

Having  demonstrated  at  Green  Spring 
once  more  that  the  best  way  to  defend  oneself 
is  to  attack  the  enemy,  Wayne  remained  with 
the  army  until  Cornwallis  was  hedged  in, 
Washington  arrived,  the  French  came  also, 
and  the  whole  British  army  was  compelled  to 
surrender  (October  19,  1781).  But  in  the 
final  work  of  capturing  Cornwallis  Wayne 
had  only  a  small  part. 

When  it  was  thought  that  Cornwallis 
might  try  to  escape  to  North  Carolina,  Wayne 
was  sent  to  a  post  between  Portsmouth  and 
Petersburg  to  wait  his  coming  and  head  him 
off.  When  Cornwallis  was  finally  surrounded 
at  Yorktown,  Wayne  was  ordered  to  the 
American  camp.  On  September  2d,  while  go 
ing  to  Lafayette's  camp  with  other  officers,  a 
sentry  mistook  the  party  for  the  enemy  and 
fired  at  them.  The  bullet  pierced  Wayne's 
leg.  The  wound  laid  him  up  for  two  weeks, 
184 


When  Wayne  Recovered  Georgia 

at  a  time  when  he  was  most  anxious  for  active 
work,  but  his  letters  on  the  occasion  show  that 
he  felt  a  real  pity  for  the  sentry.  He  was 
sorry  that  the  man  had  suffered  the  pain  of 
supposing  himself  attacked  by  a  party  of 
mounted  men  from  the  enemy. 

When  first  ordered  South  Wayne  had  been 
directed  to  join  Greene.  The  advance  of 
Cornwallis  into  Virginia  had  compelled  him 
to  join  Lafayette  instead,  and  Greene  was 
left  to  fight  out  his  campaign  with  Lord  Raw- 
don.  There  was  good  fighting  on  both  sides, 
but  at  Eutaw  Springs  (September  8,  1781), 
Greene  obtained  a  decisive  strategic  advan 
tage,  and  "the  British  were  cooped  up  in 
Charlestown  till  the  end  of  the  war." 

Work  remained  to  be  done  in  the  South, 
however,  after  the  British  retreated  to 
Charleston.  Georgia  was  yet  overrun  by 
the  British,  and  Wayne,  after  going  to  Greene 
with  reenforcements,  was  sent  (January  10, 
1782)  with  a  small  detachment  to  redeem  the 
State. 

The  conditions  in  Georgia  at  this  time  may 
be  inferred  from  Greene's  letter  of  instruc 
tions  to  Wayne.  "Try,  by  every  means,  to 
soften  the  malignity  and  deadly  resentments 
subsisting  between  whigs  and  tories,"  says 
13  185 


Anthony  Wayne 


Greene,  "and  to  put  a  stop,  as  much  as  possi 
ble,  to  the  cruel  custom  of  putting  people  to 
death  after  surrender." 

"The  British  soldiers,  most  of  whom  were 
imported  loyalists  from  the  North,  or  German 
hirelings,  ravaged  the  country  with  merciless 
vigor,"  says  Stevens,  while  "the  savages 
[chiefly  Creeks]  had  laid  waste  nearly  all 
the  frontier  settlements,  and  often  penetrated 
into  the  older  districts  with  the  torch  and  the 
scalping-knife." 

Wayne,  with  his  command,  crossed  Sisters 
Ferry,  on  the  Savannah  Kiver,  on  January 
12,  1782,  using  canoes  for  the  men,  swimming 
the  horses,  and  leaving  behind  his  cannon  for 
want  of  adequate  boats  to  carry  them  across. 
Having  then  joined  such  forces  as  the  patri 
ots  were  able  to  keep  in  the  field,  Wayne 
found  under  his  command  (Stille,  pp.  287, 
288)  Moylan's  dragoons,  100;  a  detachment 
from  Sumpter's  brigade,  300  strong,  under 
Colonel  Wade  Hampton;  volunteers  under 
Colonel  James  Jackson,  170;  a  total  of  570, 
besides  the  artillery  (less  than  100  men), 
which  he  eventually  brought  over  the  river. 
To  these  were  added  various  bodies  of  raw 
militia,  amounting  in  all  to  nothing  of  any 
consequence  when  their  help  was  most  needed. 
186 


When  Wayne    Recovered  Georgia 

To  oppose  him  there  were,  throughout  the 
State,  1,300  British  regulars,  500  well-organ 
ized  and  well-armed  Tories,  with  an  un 
counted  number  of  Tory  refugees,  the  whole 
under  Sir  Arnold  Clarke,  whose  headquar 
ters  were  at  Savannah.  In  addition  to  these 
white  enemies  must  be  counted  the  Creek  and 
Cherokee  Indians,  who  could  and  did  bring 
several  hundred  warriors  into  the  field.  On 
the  whole,  Wayne  was  outnumbered  at  all 
times  in  the  proportion  of  at  least  three  to 
one,  and  now  and  then  five  to  one.  With 
such  a  disparity  of  forces  as  this,  Wayne  un 
dertook  the  work  of  driving  the  British  from 
Georgia. 

After  entering  the  State  Wayne  estab 
lished  himself  at  Ebenezer,  25  miles  up  the 
Savannah  Elver  from  Savannah,  and  then 
stretched  a  line  of  posts  from  that  point 
southwesterly  to  the  Ogeechee  River,  in  order 
to  cut  the  British  line  of  communication  with 
the  Indians  of  the  interior,  and  to  stop,  as  well, 
the  flow  of  supplies  to  the  city.  That  is  to 
say,  he  undertook,  in  spite  of  his  inferiority 
in  numbers,  to  isolate  the  British  force  in  Sa 
vannah  and  hold  the  city  in  a  state  of  siege. 

In  the  meantime,  after  consultation  with 
the  Legislature  of  Georgia,  then  in  session  at 
187 


Anthony  Wayne 


Augusta,  Wayne  issued  two  proclamations, 
one  of  which  offered  pardon  and  protection  to 
Tories  who  would  join  the  patriots,  and  one 
that  was  calculated  to  make  the  Hessians  de 
sert.  Both  proclamations  had  a  good  effect. 
At  the  same  time  efforts  were  made  to  detach 
the  Indians  from  the  British  service — a  work 
that  might  well  have  seemed  hopeless  when 
the  ability  of  the  British  to  provide  them  with 
presents  was  considered  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  poverty  of  the  Americans  on  the  other. 
But  Wayne  was  the  man  for  the  occasion. 
While  near  the  Ogeechee  (February  19, 
1782)  he  learned  that  a  considerable  number 
of  Creek  chiefs  were  coming  down  the  river 
trail  on  their  way  to  Savannah.  Dressing  a 
sufficient  number  of  his  men  in  British  uni 
forms,  Wayne  sent  them  as  if  they  were  a 
guard  of  honor  to  meet  the  chiefs  and  to 
escort  them  into  his  own  camp.  By  this 
stratagem  the  chiefs  were  captured  and 
brought  in  without  bloodshed.  Wayne  then 
made  them  a  speech  wherein  he  pointed  out 
the  failure  of  the  British  to  subdue  the  Amer 
icans,  and  then  sent  them  home  with  a  request 
that  all  the  Indians  remain  neutral.  At  the 
same  time  a  party  of  Tory  traders  and  In 
dians,  who  wqre  coming  in  with  93  horses 
188 


When  Wayne  Recovered  Georgia 

loaded  with  furs,  were  captured  and  the  goods 
confiscated. 

The  energy  and  activity  of  Wayne  in  these 
days  is  apparent  from  a  letter  dated  Febru 
ary  24th,  in  which  he  says :  "It  is  now  upward 
of  five  weeks  since  we  entered  this  State, 
during  which  period  not  an  officer  or  soldier 
with  me  has  once  undressed,  excepting  for  the 
purpose  of  changing  his  linen,  nor  do  the  en 
emy  lay  on  beds  of  down." 

On  May  21,  1782,  Wayne  learned  that 
1,000  British  soldiers  were  leaving  the  city 
under  Colonel  Brown  to  meet  and  escort  in  a 
band  of  Creeks  numbering  several  hundred. 
With  300  infantry  under  Colonel  Posey,  of 
Virginia,  and  100  dragoons,  Wayne  started 
out  to  meet  the  two  bodies,  one  at  a  time,  be 
fore  they  could  unite.  While  on  the  way,  late 
in  the  afternoon,  trustworthy  information  was 
brought  that  the  enemy  were  to  be  found  on 
the  Ogeechee  road,  seven  miles  southwest  of 
Savannah.  Wayne  was  then  six  miles  north 
westerly  from  Savannah,  and  the  only  way  to 
reach  the  enemy  was  to  march  four  miles 
through  a  swamp.  And  he  had  to  consider 
not  only  the  danger  of  a  night  march  through 
a  tangled  swamp,  but  the  further  fact  that  on 
reaching  the  Ogeechee  road,  he  would  find 
189 


Anthony  Wayne 

himself  between   Colonel  Brown's   superior 
force  and  the  garrison  of  the  city  defenses. 

Nevertheless,  having  "the  conviction  that 
the  success  of  a  nocturnal  attack  depended 
more  upon  prowess  than  numbers,"  and  hav 
ing  also  confidence  in  "the  steady  bravery  of 
the  troops,"  Wayne  led  the  way  into  the 
swamp.  At  midnight,  as  the  vanguard,  with 
Wayne  still  in  the  lead,  struggled  from  the 
swamp  into  the  Ogeechee  road,  they  saw  the 
whole  sortie  force  of  the  enemy,  1,000  strong, 
coming  toward  them  "in  close  and  good  or 
der."  Their  number  was  at  that  moment 
greater  than  Wayne's  by  more  than  five  to 
one,  for  the  main  body  of  Wayne's  force  was 
too  far  away  in  the  swamp  to  be  of  any  aid. 

Nevertheless,  Wayne  instantly  ordered 
such  men  as  he  had  with  him  to  charge,  and 
they  "obeyed  with  such  vivacity"  that  they 
scattered  the  whole  British  force — cavalry, 
infantry,  Hessians,  and  Tories — and  drove 
them  into  the  swamp.  Colonel  Brown  did  not 
escape  from  the  swamp  and  arrive  in  Savan 
nah  until  the  23d. 

And  on  the  23d  Wayne,  with  his  little 
band,  "advanced  in  view  of  Savannah,  send 
ing  a  few  infantry  and  horse  to  draw  the  en 
emy  out;  but  they  declined  an  interview." 
190 


When  Wayne  Recovered  Georgia 

As  the  reader  has  already  observed,  most 
of  Wayne's  fighting  was  done  after  the  man 
ner  of  this  charge,  in  the  night.  But  on 
June  24th,  Wayne  and  his  force  had  to  face 
a  night  attack  like  that  at  Paoli.  Wayne 
was  then  in  camp  at  Sharon,  five  miles 
from  Savannah.  At  one  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing,  while  the  greater  part  of  the  men  were 
asleep,  a  large  body  of  Indians,  headed  by 
Guristersijo  and  other  chiefs,  with  a  British 
officer  to  help,  charged  the  camp.  The  as 
sault  was  so  impetuous  that  a  company  of 
light  infantry,  posted  to  protect  two  field- 
pieces,  were  swept  back,  and  the  guns  were 
captured.  But  within  a  few  minutes  the 
whole  American  force  was  up,  and  with 
Wayne  in  the  lead,  sword  in  hand,  they 
charged  back  at  the  red  men.  As  on  the  field 
of  Monmouth,  Wayne  now  had  an  enemy 
worthy  of  his  steel.  "The  bravery  of  the  In 
dians  fighting  hand  to  hand  gave  an  opening 
for  the  free  use  of  the  sword  and  bayonet." 
One  of  the  chiefs  (Guristersijo  himself,  very 
likely,  for  he  was  killed  in  the  fight)  singled 
out  Wayne  for  a  personal  combat,  and  got  it. 
Wayne  cut  him  down,  but  as  he  lay  on  the 
ground  dying  he  drew  a  pistol  and  fired  it, 
killing  Wayne's  horse.  The  convulsive  move- 
191 


Anthony  Wayne 


ment  of  the  Indian's  muscles  when  in  the 
clutch  of  death  prevented  better  aim. 

The  Indians  were  routed.  At  daylight 
the  British  garrison  came  out  to  take  a  hand 
in  the  battle,  but  they  arrived  too  late.  The 
Indians  were  so  scattered  that  they  could  not 
be  rallied,  and  Wayne  turned  on  the  British 
with  such  impetuosity  that  they  were  glad  to 
find  shelter  behind  their  works. 

This  fight,  with  those  that  preceded  it,  de 
cided  the  fate  of  Savannah.  The  enemy  were 
so  disheartened  that  they  remained  cooped 
within  the  city  and  wholly  dependent  on  the 
shipping  for  supplies,  and  on  July  11,  1782, 
they  abandoned  the  city  to  Wayne. 

The  Legislature  of  Georgia,  though  the 
State  was  reduced  to  extreme  poverty,  voted 
3,900  guineas,  with  which  a  rice  plantation 
was  purchased  and  presented  to  Wayne  as  a 
token  of  gratitude  of  the  people  of  the  State. 

The  end  of  the  war  was  now  at  hand. 
Wayne  was  ordered  to  join  Greene  after  Sa 
vannah  fell.  He  had  contracted  a  malarious 
fever  while  fighting  in  the  swamps  of  Georgia, 
but  he  was  able  to  ride  into  Charleston  at  the 
head  of  the  column  on  December  14,  1782, 
when  the  Americans  took  possession. 

During  the  winter  of  1782-'83  Wayne  ne- 
192 


When  Wayne  Recovered  Georgia 

gotiated  treaties  of  peace  with  the  Creeks  and 
Cherokees,  and  thus  completed  the  work  that 
he  had  begun  with  the  sword. 

In  June,  1783,  all  of  the  soldiers  of  the 
American  army  received  six  months  furlough, 
and  in  December  they  were  finally  discharged. 
They  were  paid  off  with  bills  of  the  nominal 
value  of  20  shillings  each,  and  the  soldiers 
were  compelled  to  take  them  at  par,  although 
worth  but  one-tenth  of  their  face  value.  The 
American  people  in  those  days  trembled  with 
fear  whenever  they  thought  of  a  government 
strong  enough  to  support  itself,  but  there 
was  no  quiver  among  any  of  them  (save 
among  the  victims)  when  the  government, 
through  weakness,  broke  faith  with  the  men 
who  had  made  and  saved  the  nation. 

On  October  10,  1783,  when  the  war  was 
ended,  Congress  gave  Wayne  the  rank  of 
major-general  by  brevet  "on  the  recommenda 
tion  of  the  Executive  Council  of  Pennsylva 
nia."  In  the  annals  of  the  United  States 
there  is  no  other  case  to  match  that  of  the  fail 
ure  to  promote  Anthony  Wayne  to  the  full 
rank  of  a  major-general  during  the  course  of 
the  war.  The  explanation  of  the  failure,  how 
ever,  is  simple  enough.  "To  avoid  exciting 
jealousy  on  the  part  of  the  States  which  fur- 
193 


Anthony  Wayne 


nished  most  men  "  for  the  Continental  army, , 
Congress  had  early  adopted  the  rule  by  which 
each  State  was  to  have  generals  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  men  it  sent  into  the  field.- 
Pennsylvania  really  had  in  the  field  enough 
men  to  entitle  her  to  three  major-generals,  but 
a  part  of  them  were  so  dispersed  in  frontier 
garrisons  that  they  could  not  be  organized 
into  brigades,  and  so  her  right  to  more  than 
two  was  ignored.  One  of  the  two  commis 
sions  to  which  her  title  was  recognized  was 
given  to  Mifflin,  a  man  of  political  influence. 
The  other  was  given  to  St.  Clair,  whose 
claim  rested  on  his  previous  experience  in 
the  king's  service  and  his  political  influence. 
Had  a  third  commission  been  allowed  to 
Pennsylvania  Wayne  would  have  received  it, 
but  in  order  to  prevent  sectional  jealousy  he 
was  ignored.  If  he  felt  the  slight  he  never, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  said  so.  And 
because  he  gave  his  very  best  services  to  his 
country  throughout  the  war  without  com- 
p'laining,  it  is  but  fair  to  say  that  he  did  his 
work  not  from  a  hope  of  any  kind  of  reward 
or  praise,  but  solely  because  of  Ms  love  of 
country  and  his  sense  of  duty. 


194 


CHAPTER   XIX 

BETWEEN     TWO    WARS 

OP  Wayne's  doings  in  civil  life  in  the 
years  following  the  War  of  the  Revolution 
few  words  will  suffice.  When  able  to  attend 
to  his  private  affairs  he  turned  his  attention 
to  the  estate  that  Georgia  had  given  him.  It 
contained  830  acres,  and  its  former  owner  had 
obtained  from  800  to  1,000  barrels  of  rice, 
worth  from  2,400  to  3,000  guineas  a  year, 
from  it.  The  estate,  however,  was  wholly 
without  stock,  and  it  could  be  worked  only 
with  the  aid  of  slaves.  Wayne  did  not  have 
the  cash  capital  needed,  and  the  American 
people  were  so  poor  that  he  could  not  borrow 
it  at  home,  even  by  pledging  his  Chester 
County  estate  as  well  as  the  other  one  for 
security. 

While  casting  about  for  money  Wayne 
was  told  that  he  could  get  it  in  Holland,  and 
the  information  was  given  in  such  definite 
form  that  he  drew  on  Holland  capitalists  for 
4,000  guineas.  The  bills  were  discounted 
195 


Anthony  Wayne 


and  cashed  in  Philadelphia,  and  with  the 
money  Wayne  went  to  work  on  the  estate. 
But  when  the  bills  reached  Holland  the  capi 
talists  refused  to  accept  them,  and  they  came 
back  protested. 

"It  is  physically  impossible  for  a  well- 
educated,  intellectual,  or  brave  man  to  make 
money  the  chief  object  of  his  thoughts,"  said 
one  great  writer  whom  some  critics  do  not  ad 
mire.  Wayne,  with  his  frank,  open-hearted 
ways,  could  not  compete  with  the  money 
makers  in  a  period  of  our  commercial  history 
when  it  was  possible  for  a  successful  scoun 
drel  to  openly  boast  of  thievish  cunning  with 
out  losing  caste  among  business  men.  But 
Wayne  could  be  and  was  honest.  He  sacri 
ficed  his  Georgia  estate,  took  up  the  protested 
bills,  and  saved  his  Chester  County  property. 

In  the  meantime  he  had  given  his  time  to 
his  State.  In  the  constitution  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  adopted  in  1776 — the  constitution  that 
had  given  the  stay-at-home  patriots  more  con 
cern  than  the  sufferings  of  the  American 
army  had  done — it  was  provided  that  a  body 
of  men  should  be  elected  once  in  seven  years 
to  review  the  work  of  the  various  branches  of 
the  State  government  during  the  seven-year 
period,  to  determine  whether  the  government 
196 


Between  Two  Wars 

had  been  well  conducted  or  not,  and  make  re 
port  of  their  findings  to  the  people.  "Wayne 
was  chosen  a  member  of  this  board  of  censors 
late  in  1783.  In  this  work  Wayne  is  memo 
rable  because  he  showed  he  was  anxious  that 
"measures  of  conciliation  should  be  adopted 
now  that  peace  was  restored." 

In  1784,  as  a  member  of  the  Assembly, 
Wayne  also  worked  actively  to  get  repealed 
certain  war  measures  that  had  been  aimed  at 
people  who  neglected  or  refused  to  take  cer 
tain  prescribed  test  oaths.  The  war  meas 
ures  bore  heavily  on  the  Quakers  (the  most 
praiseworthy  class  of  people  in  the  State,  all 
things  considered),  but  he  worked  in  vain. 
The  contest  was  continued,  however,  and  in 
1789  good  sense  triumphed  over  the  hatreds 
engendered  by  war. 

In  1787  Wayne  was  a  member  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  convention  that  ratified  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States. 

In  1790,  although  it  was  then  plain  that  he 
would  have  to  sacrifice  his  Georgia  estate, 
and  give  up  all  hope  of  spending  a  part  of  his 
time  in  that  State,  as  he  had  intended  to  do,  a 
large  number  of  his  friends  there  determined 
that  "he  was,  in  his  legal  relation,  a  citizen," 
and  that  he  should  represent  them  in  Con- 
197 


Anthony  Wayne 


gress.  Accordingly,  lie  was  returned  as 
elected  on  January  3,  1791,  but  when  his  op 
ponent  in  the  election  contested  the  result,  the 
House  investigated  the  matter,  and  on  March 
16,  1792,  "Resolved,  That  Anthony  Wayne 
was  not  duly  elected  a  Member  of  this 
House." 

Wayne  was  unseated,  but  it  was  admitted 
and  declared  on  all  sides  that  Wayne  himself 
had  had  neither  part  in  nor  knowledge  of  any 
of  the  irregularities  that  had  led  to  his  return, 
and  that  his  character  "stood  pure  and  un 
sullied  as  a  soldier's  ought  to  be." 

It  appears  now  that  when  W'ayne  learned 
that  he  was  not  entitled  to  a  seat  in  Congress, 
he  was  somewhat — perhaps  not  a  little — cha 
grined.  If  this  be  so,  his  experience  was,  in 
a  way,  but  a  repetition  of  that  which  gave  him 
chagrin  when  General  St.  Clair  relieved  him  as 
the  commander  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line.  He 
was  deprived  of  work  which  he  hoped  to  do, 
but  because  he  was  thus  deprived,  a  new  way 
was  opened  for  him  to  add  to  his  renown.  By 
losing  the  command  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line 
he  had  obtained  command  of  the  light  infan 
try,  and  had  captured  Stony  Point.  And 
through  losing  the  seat  in  Congress  to  which 
he  had  supposed  himself  entitled,  he  was 
198 


Between  Two  Wars 

placed  in  command  of  the  American  regular 
army  and  sent  to  the  West.  The  campaign  in 
Ohio — the  crowning  work  of  his  life — the 
work  that  was  to  give  peace  to  the  frontier 
and  loosen  the  British  grip  upon  the  North 
west,  was  at  hand. 


199 


CHAPTER   XX 

THE   WAR   ON   THE   FRONTIER 

STRICTLY  speaking,  the  war  that  called 
Anthony  Wayne  to  the  frontier  was  a  pro 
longation  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 
Though  the  treaty  of  peace  made  with  Eng 
land  had  been  written  in  a  kindly  spirit,  it  had 
not  been  carried  out  in  kindly  fashion.  Urged 
on  by  the  Canadian  fur  buyers  chiefly,  who 
saw  an  immense  trade  slipping  from  their 
grasp,  the  British  officials  had  refused  to 
evacuate  Detroit  and  the  other  posts  in  the 
American  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio. 
The  British  could  no  longer  claim  territory  to 
the  south  of  the  Great  Lakes,  but  they  per 
suaded  the  Indians  to  claim  and  to  fight  for 
these  broad  lands,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  British  hoped  to  acquire  the  territory  in 
due  time. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  Revolu 
tion  the  frontiersmen  began  to  seek  home  sites 
in  this  Northwest  territory,  and  by  the  ordi 
nance  of  Congress,  dated  July  13,  1787  (a 
200 


ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR. 


The  War  on  the  Frontier 

famous  document  in  the  history  of  the  Amer 
ican  people),  the  territory  was  organized  with 
General  Arthur  St.  Clair  as  Governor. 

St.  Clair  reached  Marietta,  Ohio,  the  first 
town  laid  out  in  the  territory,  on  July  9,  1788, 
and  on  the  20th  "the  machinery  of  govern 
ment"  was  set  in  motion. 

As  a  first  duty  St.  Clair  endeavored  to  buy 
the  Indian  title  to  all  the  land  of  the  territory 
south  of  the  forty-first  parallel  of  latitude. 
For,  while  the  United  States  claimed  the  fee 
of  and  the  sovereignty  over  the  land,  the  In 
dian  right  of  occupancy  was  recognized,  and 
it  was  this  right  that  St.  Clair  tried  to  buy. 

In  January,  1789,  St.  Clair  made  two  dif 
ferent  treaties  with  small  bands  of  Indians, 
but  the  red  signers  of  the  treaties  had  no  au 
thority  to  bind  their  tribes,  and  the  treaties 
served  merely  to  strengthen  the  British  posi 
tion.  For  the  British,  who  urgently  opposed 
any  cession  of  land  to  the  Americans,  were 
able  to  point  to  the  treaties  as  proofs  that  the 
Americans  purposed  evicting  all  the  red  men 
from  the  region  northwest  of  the  Ohio. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  were  Indians  on 
the  war-path  while  these  Indians  who  negoti 
ated  the  treaty  were  accepting  presents  from 
St.  Clair.  In  every  month  since  the  Eevolu- 
u  201 


Anthony  Wayne 


tion  Indian  raiders  in  greater  or  less  num 
bers  had  prowled  around  the  white  settle 
ments  or  haunted  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  to 
attack  home  seekers  floating  down  in  flatboats 
to  the  promised  land. 

The  settlements  that  were  guarded  by 
Fort  Harmer,  at  Marietta,  and  by  Fort 
Washington,  at  Cincinnati,  escaped  assault, 
but  the  smaller  and  unguarded  settlements 
were  raided  whenever  the  weather  permitted 
the  Indians  to  go  from  their  villages  comfort 
ably.  It  is  said  that  in  the  seven  years 
between  1783  and  1790  no  less  than  1,500 
home  makers  were  killed  in  Kentucky  alone, 
not  to  mention  the  devastation  in  Virginia 
and  western  Pennsylvania. 

Eventually  the  outcries  and  protests  of 
the  frontiersmen  compelled  the  National  Gov 
ernment  (Washington  had  been  inaugurated 
President  on  March  4,  1789),  to  send  an  expe 
dition  into  the  Indian  country  to  compel  them 
to  keep  the  peace.  General  Josiah  Harmer 
was  placed  in  command  of  a  body  of  men  that 
included  320  Federal  troops  and  1,453  militia, 
with  three  brass  field-pieces. 

Harmer's  expedition  marched  to  the  In 
dian  villages  that  stood  where  Fort  Wayne, 
Ind.,  now  stands,  and  burned  them  (October 
202 


The  War  on  the  Frontier 

17,  1790).  But  in  such  fighting  as  was  done 
the  white  men  were  beaten,  with  a  loss  of  103 
killed  and  111  wounded. 

Naturally  the  Indians  were  incited  to  fur 
ther  aggressions  rather  than  subdued  by  such 
work,  and  another  expedition  to  chastise  them 
was  necessarily  organized.  General  St.  Clair 
himself  took  command.  But  St.  Clair  was 
sick  during  nearly  all  the  time  he  was  in  com 
mand.  His  army  was  made  up  of  raw  re 
cruits  of  a  worthless  character  chiefly,  and 
they  were  enlisted  for  six  months  only,  for 
Congress  was  in  deadly  fear  lest  a  standing 
army  of  American  citizens  overthrow  the  re 
public. 

On  November  3,  1791,  St.  Clair,  with  an 
army  that  numbered  1,400  men  under  arms, 
encamped  where  Recovery,  Mercer  County, 
Ohio,  now  stands,  and  at  daylight  the  next 
morning  a  red  host  swept  the  camp  as  a  tor 
nado  sweeps  away  an  unsheltered  village  of 
the  plains. 

The  fight  began  at  sunrise.  At  9.30  o'clock 
the  remains  of  the  panic-stricken  army  fled, 
and  the  red  warriors,  greedy  for  the  spoils  of 
the  camp,  let  them  go.  But  they  left  behind 
630  men  killed,  and  of  the  1,400  who  had  been 
under  arms,  "  scarce  half  a  hundred  were  un- 
203 


Anthony  Wayne 


hurt"  (Winsor).  General  Richard  Butler, 
Wayne's  old  comrade,  was  second  in  com 
mand,  and  was  among  the  slain. 

That  was  the  most  disastrous  defeat  that 
the  white  men  had  sustained  at  the  hands  of 
the  red  since  the  day  of  Braddock,  and  it 
came  at  a  time  when  the  nation  was  in  dire 
distress  because  of  the  aggressions  of  the 
British.  The  British  were  as  exultant  as  the 
red  men.  Since  the  War  of  the  Revolution 
no  event  had  depressed  the  people  of  the 
United  States  as  the  defeat  of  St.  Clair  did, 
and  none  had  placed  the  republic  in  greater 
danger. 

It  was  in  this  time  of  wide-spread  conster 
nation  and  deadly  peril  that  "Mad  Anthony  " 
Wayne  was  called  on  to  save  the  nation. 
And  he  did  it. 


204 


CHAPTER  XXI 

AT  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  FALLEN  TIMBERS 

BY  an  act  approved  March  5,  1792,  the 
President  was  authorized  to  fill  up  the  two 
regiments  of  infantry  of  which  (with  a  bat 
talion  of  artillery)  the  regular  army  was 
then  composed,  until  each  should  contain  960 
enlisted  men  and  non-commissioned  officers. 
In  addition,  because  of  the  exigencies  due  to 
the  defeat  of  St.  Clair,  he  was  to  raise  three 
more  regiments  of  the  same  size.  The  army 
for  the  defense  of  the  nation  was  to  be  in 
creased  to  5,000  men,  that  is  to  say,  and  over 
it  a  major-general  was  to  be  appointed.  By 
another  act  approved  May  2,  means  were  pro 
vided  for  supporting  the  Legion  of  the  United 
States,  as  this  army  was  called. 

In  looking  about  for  a  man  to  command 
this  Legion,  Washington's  first  choice  was 
"Light-Horse  Harry  "  Lee,  and  Lee  wanted 
the  appointment.  But  Lee  had  held  a  lower 
rank  than  some  of  the  men  whom  Washing 
ton  wished  to  appoint  in  the  grade  of  briga 
diers,  and  it  was  therefore  necessary  to  pass 
205 


Anthony  Wayne 


him.  Anthony  Wayne  was  the  next  choice  in 
Washington's  opinion.  Yet  it  is  plain  that 
Washington  did  not  then  have  full  confidence 
in  "Mad  Anthony."  When  Wayne  was  con 
sidered  in  a  Cabinet  meeting  Washington  said 
that  he  was  "brave  and  nothing  else."  What 
Winsor  calls  Washington's  "studied  and  writ 
ten  estimate  of  Wayne"  (The  Westward 
Movement)  is  equally  severe.  In  it  he  says 
Wayne  was  "more  active  and  enterprising 
than  judicious  and  cautious.  No  economist, 
it  is  feared.  Open  to  flattery,  vain;  easily 
imposed  upon  and  liable  to  be  drawn  into 
scrapes."  Winsor  asserts  that  such  was  a 
"prevalent  opinion"  of  "Mad  Anthony"  in 
the  spring  of  1792. 

The  officers  who  had  found  the  work  of 
Anthony  Wayne  during  the  Revolution  a  con 
stant  reproach  to  themselves  had  been  able  to 
bring  even  Washington  to  the  belief  that 
Wayne  was  "brave  and  nothing  else." 
Wayne's  ill  success  in  business  matters  had 
created  an  additional  evil  impression  which 
his  strict  integrity  had  not  counterbalanced. 
This,  with  his  love  of  fine  clothing,  and  a 
tendency  toward  ostentatious  display,  no 
doubt  gave  the  idea  that  he  was  "no  econo 
mist." 

206 


The  Battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers 

Nevertheless  Washington  appointed  him 
to  the  command  in  April,  1792,  and  then  wrote 
to  Lee  (who,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  the 
son  of  Washington's  earliest  sweetheart),  and 
apologized  for  making  the  appointment  by 
saying  that  "Wayne  has  many  good  points  as 
an  officer,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  time,  re 
flection,  good  advice,  and  above  all,  a  due 
sense  of  the  importance  of  the  trust,  will  cor 
rect  his  foibles,  or  cast  a  shade  over  them." 
Wayne's  nomination  was  accepted  by  the  Sen 
ate,  though  Madison  records  that  the  con 
firmation  went  through  "rather  against  the 
bristles." 

Hammond,  who  was  then  British  minister 
to  the  United  States,  wrote  home  that  Wayne 
was  "the  most  active,  vigilant,  and  enterpri 
sing  officer  in  the  American  army,  but  his  tal 
ents  are  purely  military."  Hammond  thought 
Wayne  would  be  apt  to  attack  the  posts  which 
the  British  were  holding  in  American  terri 
tory. 

But  while  the  Administration  prepared  for 
a  frontier  war  by  appointing  "the  most  act 
ive,  vigilant,  and  enterprising  officer  in  the 
American  army  "  to  command,  Washington 
was  obliged  to  give  heed  to  the  peace-at-any- 
price  men  of  the  nation.  Two  peace  envoys, 
207 


Anthony  Wayne 


Colonel  John  Hardin  and  Major  Alexander 
Truman,  were  sent,  in  the  spring  of  1792, 
with  a  flag  of  truce  to  the  hostile  tribes  to  ar 
range  for  a  council.  They  were  received  by 
the  Indians  with  an  appearance  of  good-will, 
and  then,  when  their  apprehensions  of  possi 
ble  danger  were  allayed,  they  were  foully 
murdered. 

Nevertheless,  the  efforts  to  obtain  peace  by 
negotiation  were  continued,  and  in  May,  1793, 
three  commissioners  were  appointed  (Benja 
min  Lincoln,  Beverley  Randolph,  and  Timo 
thy  Pickering)  to  meet  the  Indians  at  Detroit, 
under  the  protection  of  the  British  garrison 
in  that  American  fortress,  and  endeavor  to 
make  a  new  treaty. 

What  Wayne  thought  of  this  humiliating 
movement  is  nowhere  recorded,  but  what  he 
did  meantime  we  know.  He  went  to  Pitts- 
burg  in  June,  1792,  to  organize  the  troops 
who  had  been,  and  were  to  be,  enlisted  in  the 
Legion.  These  recruits  were  gathered  by 
sweeping  the  streets  and  prisons  of  the  East 
ern  cities  of  their  beggars,  tramps,  and  crim 
inals.  And  let  it  be  remembered  that  they 
were  a  second  sweeping  of  such  refuse,  the 
first  having  gone  to  St.  Clair.  As  these  re 
cruits  learned  that  they  were  destined  to  fight 
208 


The  Battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers 

Indians  their  hearts  melted,  and  they  de 
serted  in  squads,  but  by  slow  degrees  the 
number  corralled  at  Pittsburg  grew  until 
there  were  enough  to  organize  a  first  sub- 
legion. 

Meantime  the  contractors  who  were  to 
supply  Wayne's  expedition  proved  to  be  men 
who  gloried  in  the  "  smartness  "  by  which  they 
sold  worthless  supplies  at  the  prices  of  the 
best — men  utterly  devoid  of  any  sense  of 
honor. 

For  a  time  Wayne  worked  as  best  he  could 
at  Pittsburg,  but  finding  that  the  whisky  and 
the  tales  of  Indian  atrocities  which  this  fron 
tier  city  afforded  were  demoralizing  the  re 
cruits  faster  than  he  could  train  them,  he 
shipped  them  all  to  a  camp  27  miles  down  the 
Ohio,  named  the  post  Legionville,  and  settled 
down  for  a  winter's  work  as  drill-sergeant. 
For  so  many  of  the  experienced  officers  of  the 
army  had  been  killed  at  St.  Glair's  defeat  that 
Wayne  found  himself  surrounded  by  officers 
that  needed  training  as  much  as  the  privates 
did. 

In  May,  1793,  the  command  was  trans 
ferred  to  a  camp  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Wash 
ington  (Cincinnati).  In  the  meantime  Knox, 
Secretary  of  War  (he  who,  by  his  stupidity, 
209 


Anthony  Wayne 


saved  the  British  from  utter  defeat  at  Ger- 
mantown),  had  not  been  sparing  in  giving  the 
"advice  "  to  Wayne  which  Washington  sup 
posed  was  needed.  Extracts  from  Knox's 
letters  are  interesting.  Thus: 

"The  sentiments  of  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States  are  adverse  in  the  extreme  to 
an  Indian  war." 

"It  is  still  more  necessary  than  heretofore 
that  no  offensive  operations  should  be  under 
taken  against  the  Indians." 

The  last  extract  is  from  a  letter  sent  to 
Wayne  at  Fort  Washington  at  the  time  the 
three  American  commissioners  were  on  their 
way  to  negotiate  for  peace  under  the  protec 
tion  of  the  British — at  a  time  when  the  Brit 
ish,  with  what  Eoosevelt  calls  "smooth  du 
plicity  "  (Winning  of  the  West),  were  making 
open  pretense  of  friendship  for  the  United 
States,  and  in  every  underhanded  way  were1 
strengthening  the  Indian  determination  to 
continue  the  war. 

The  work  that  Wayne  did  at  Legionville 
and  Fort  Washington  gives  us  a  view  of  his 
character  that  has  been  almost,  but  not  quite, 
overlooked  by  historians — the  thoroughness 
of  the  man.  Day  by  day  he  brought  that  mob 
of  weaklings  and  degenerates  upon  the  parade- 
210 


The  Battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers 

ground.  Day  by  day,  and  all  day  long,  he 
made  them  march  to  and  fro  and  go  through 
the  manual  of  arms  until  a  time  came  when 
their  watery  eyes  cleared,  their  backbones 
stiffened,  and  their  slouching  gait  became  an 
elastic  tread.  He  taught  them  to  wheel  into 
line,  to  lower  their  muskets  and  with  the 
bayonet  charge  an  enemy  they  had  to  imagine 
was  before  them.  And  he  taught  them  to  yell 
at  the  top  of  their  voices  when  they  did  so. 

He  did  more.  In  the  annals  of  the  West 
there  is  one  story  which  the  writers  tell  al 
most  with  awe.  Louis  Wetzell,  they  say, 
could  run  "with  almost  the  speed  of  a  deer 
through  the  woods,  and  while  doing  so  could 
load  his  rifle."  The  annalist  writes  that  with 
wide-eyed  wonder,  but  Wayne  took  his  mob 
of  weaklings  and  trained  them  until  he  had 
nearly  1,000  men  who  could  do  as  Wetzell  did 
— who  could  load  their  rifles  as  they  charged 
the  enemy  at  the  top  of  their  speed. 

Anthony  Wayne — "Mad  Anthony" — was 
not  only  an  ideal  leader  of  men  in  time  of  bat 
tle,  but  he  was  the  most  capable  drill-master 
the  American  army  has  ever  had. 

One  reads  that  in  one  of  the  drill  charges 
a  squad  of  mounted  men  were  led  into  the 
river  until  some  were  thought  to  be  in  danger 
211 


Anthony  Wayne 


of  drowning,  and  on  another  occasion  they 
were  sent  charging  across  a  brigadier-gener- 
aPs  private  garden  in  order  to  accustom  them 
to  obeying  orders  that  seemed  without  reason. 
But  only  one  writer  (Winsor)  has  recorded 
the  ability  of  Wayne's  men  to  load  and  fire 
and  load  again  as  they  charged  the  enemy. 
That  they  were  also  taught  to  shoot  with  ac 
curacy  scarcely  need  be  said.  Their  skill  "as 
marksmen  astonished  the  savages  on  St.  Pat 
rick's  day,"  1793,  when  the  camp  at  Legion- 
ville  received  a  visit,  and  it  was  the  marvel 
of  the  frontiersmen. 

Inevitably  the  story  of  Wayne's  thorough 
work  reached  the  hostile  camps  by  the  lakes, 
and  the  British  who  attended  the  American 
peace  commissioners  protested.  At  that 
these  commissioners  wrote  to  the  Secretary 
of  War  a  strong  remonstrance  against 
Wayne's  vigorous  work  on  the  drill-ground, 
and  said  that  their  reason  for  remonstrating 
was  that  Wayne's  work  angered  the  Indians 
and  the  British  considered  it  "  unfair  and  un 
warrantable." 

Fortunately,  Wayne  was  not  ordered  to 

stop  drilling  his  men.    More  fortunately  still, 

when  the  peace  commissioners  reached  the 

Detroit  River  the  Indians  sent  them  a  mes- 

212 


The  Battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers 

sage  from  a  "general  council,  at  the  foot  of 
Miami  (Maumee)  Rapids,  the  13th  day  of  Au 
gust,  1793,"  which  said: 

Brothers  :  We  shall  be  persuaded  that  you 
mean  to  do  us  justice,  if  you  agree  that  the  Ohio 
shall  remain  the  boundary  line  between  us.  If 
you  will  not  consent  thereto,  our  meeting  will  be 
altogether  unnecessary. 

A  battle  was  inevitable,  though  not  imme 
diately  at  hand.  For  the  news  of  the  failure 
of  the  peace  negotiations  traveled  so  slowly 
in  those  days,  when  lakes  and  rivers  were  the 
only  comfortable  highways  of  the  region,  that 
it  was  not  possible  for  Wayne  to  receive  or 
ders  to  advance  until  it  was  too  late  to  do  ef 
fective  work  in  that  season  (1793). 

On  the  whole,  however,  the  delay  was  ad 
vantageous  to  the  ultimate  result,  because  it 
gave  Wayne  additional  time  for  drilling  his 
men,  and  it  gave  the  British  time  in  which  to 
prepare  the  Indians  for  the  conflict.  It  was 
necessary  that  both  sides  be  well  prepared,  if 
a  decisive  victory  was  to  be  obtained. 

What  the  British  now  did  to  prepare  the 

Indians  is  a  most  important  feature  of  this 

war.     "  The  attitude  of  the  British  gradually 

changed  from  passive  to   active  hostility," 

213 


Anthony  Wayne 


says  Eoosevelt.  "The  advisers  of  the  King, 
relying  on  the  weakness  of  the  young  Federal 
Kepublic,  had  begun  to  adopt  that  tone  of 
brutal  insolence  which  reflected  well  the  gen 
eral  attitude  of  the  British  people  toward  the 
Americans,  and  which  finally  brought  on  the 
second  war  between  the  two  nations." 

In  the  winter  (1793-'94),  Little  Turtle,  who 
had  led  the  red  hosts  when  St.  Clair  was  de 
feated,  went  to  Canada  to  secure  help,  and  on 
February  10th,  with  some  other  chiefs,  met 
Lord  Dorchester  (the  Guy  Carleton  who  had, 
with  1,800  men,  held  Quebec  in  spite  of  the 
assaults  of  500  American  boasters),  who  was 
now  Governor  of  Canada,  for  a  formal  confer 
ence.  Dorchester  had  just  returned  from  a 
visit  to  England,  and  reflecting  the  spirit  of 
the  British  Government,  he  said : 

From  the  manner  in  which  the  people  of  the 
United  States  push  on,  and  act,  and  talk,  on  this 
side;  and  from  what  I  learn  of  their  conduct 
toward  the  sea,  I  shall  not  be  surprised  if  we  are 
at  war  with  them  in  the  course  of  the  present  year ; 
and  if  so,  a  line  must  be  drawn  by  the  Warriors. 
...  I  have  told  you  that  there  is  no  line  between 
them  and  us.  I  shall  acknowledge  no  lands  to  be 
theirs  which  have  been  encroached  on  by  them 
since  the  year  1783.  .  .  .  All  approaches  towards 
214 


The  Battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers 

us  since  that  time,  and  all  the  purchases  [of  land 
from  the  Indians]  made  by  them  I  consider  as  an 
infringement  on  the  King's  rights.  And  when  a  line 
is  drawn  between  us,  they  must  lose  all  their  im 
provements  and  houses  on  our  side  of  it.  Those 
people  must  all  be  gone  who  do  not  obtain  leave  to 
become  the  King's  subjects. 

Lord  Dorchester  wished  the  Indians  to  be 
lieve  that  the  British  were  going  to  declare 
war  against  the  United  States,  and  they  did 
believe  so.  The  speech  was  made  deliber 
ately  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  the  In 
dians  to  fight,  and  the  purpose  was  accom 
plished.  But  Dorchester  did  not  stop  with 
giving  the  Indians  an  encouraging  speech. 
To  emphasize  his  words  and  add  to  the  hostile 
spirit  of  the  Indians,  he  sent  Lieutenant-Gov 
ernor  John  Graves  Simcoe,  in  April,  1794, 
with  three  companies  of  British  regulars  and 
an  unstated  number  of  Canadians,  to  invade 
the  United  States  and  built  a  fort  (Fort 
Miami)  at  the  foot  of  the  Maumee  Rapids 
(just  above  the  modern  city  of  Toledo,  Ohio). 
This  fort  was  constructed  in  such  fashion 
that  it  could  not  be  carried  without  cannon, 
or  it  carried  without  cannon,  then  at  an 
enormous  loss  of  life  in  the  assaulting  party. 
To  the  Indians  it  seemed  impregnable.  Siin- 
215 


Anthony  Wayne 


coe,  who  had  been  the  colonel  of  a  Tory  regi 
ment  during  the  Revolution,  as  previously 
noted,  heartily  hated  the  Americans,  and  was 
careful  to  do  the  work  well.  Of  the  speeches 
that  Simcoe  made  to  the  Indians  meantime, 
there  is  no  official  record,  but  a  Pottawattami 
brave,  captured  by  the  Americans  before  the 
final  battle,  boasted  that  the  British  had 
promised  to  reenforce  the  Indians  with  1,500 
men ;  and  a  Shawnee,  at  about  the  same  time, 
said  that  Captain  Elliott,  the  Tory  partizan, 
had  gone  to  Detroit,  and  had  promised  to 
bring  back  1,000  white  men  to  aid  the  In 
dians. 

While  making  these  promises,  the  British 
officials  gave  the  Indians  abundant  supplies  of 
arms  and  ammunition,  and  Alexander  McKee, 
the  British  Indian  agent,  was  careful  to  see 
that  the  Indians  received  guns  of  the  best 
quality,  instead  of  the  trade  guns  usually 
given  them  in  exchange  for  furs. 

The  British  fort,  built  on  American  soil, 
and  where  it  might  serve  well  to  protect  the 
Indian  villages  along  the  Maumee,  was  to  the 
red  men  a  sufficient  earnest  that  the  promises 
of  reenforcements  would  be  kept.  The  sup 
plies  of  ammunition  gave  additional  assur 
ance,  and  2,000  warriors,  well  armed  and 
216 


The  Battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers 

eager  for  the  conflict,  gathered  on  the  Mau- 
mee  in  the  spring  of  1794. 

And  while  they  rested  there,  looking  for 
ward  eagerly  for  the  day  of  battle,  they  were 
visited  by  emissaries  of  the  Spanish  Gov 
ernor  at  New  Orleans,  who  came  to  promise 
them  aid  and  to  urge  them  on  to  fight.  For 
the  Spanish  were  then  holding,  and  hoping  to 
keep,  a  great  breadth  of  the  United  States  ter 
ritory  in  the  Southwest. 

In  the  meantime  (October  7, 1793),  Wayne 
had  left  his  camp  at  Fort  Washington.  The 
faint-hearted  Knox  had  written  in  September 
to  say:  "Let  it  therefore  again,  and  for  the 
last  time,  be  impressed  deeply  upon  your 
mind,  that  as  little  as  possible  is  to  be  haz 
arded  .  .  .  that  a  defeat  at  the  present  time 
and  under  the  present  circumstances,  would 
be  pernicious  in  the  highest  degree  to  the  in 
terests  of  our  country."  To  this  Wayne  re 
plied:  "I  pray  you  not  to  permit  present  ap 
pearances  to  cause  too  much  anxiety  either  in 
the  mind  of  the  President  or  yourself  on  ac 
count  of  this  army." 

Wayne  knew  his  men  at  last,  and  they 
knew  him.  On  October  13th  the  command  en 
camped  where  Greenville,  Ohio,  now  stands. 
It  was  then  a  spot  in  the  midst  of  the  wilder- 
15  217 


Anthony"  Wayne 


ness.  Wayne  built  winter  quarters  and  a 
base  of  supplies  there,  and  named  the  post  for 
his  old  friend,  Major-General  Greene,  under 
whom  he  had  fought  when  in  Georgia.  The 
post  stood  6  miles  north  of  Fort  Jefferson  and 
80  from  Cincinnati. 

From  this  post  a  detachment  was  sent  for 
ward,  and  a  fort  was  erected  on  the  site  of 
St.  Glair's  defeat.  It  was  named  Fort  Re 
covery,  and  a  village  in  Mercer  County,  Ohio, 
perpetuates  the  name.  The  Indians,  in  large 
bands,  haunted  the  trail  over  which  supplies 
were  brought  from  Cincinnati.  Several  con 
voys  were  attacked,  with  some  loss  of  men, 
and  especially  of  officers,  for  although  some 
of  the  recruits  were  yet  " bashful,"  as  a  con 
temporary  writes,  the  young  officers  had 
caught  the  spirit  of  the  general,  and  they 
fought  like  tigers.  But  instead  of  injuring 
the  Legion  by  these  attacks,  the  Indians  only 
gave  it  needed  experience. 

In  the  garrisons  the  winter  wore  away 
with  unending  drills.  In  the  spring  came 
rains  that  flooded  the  forest,  and  Wayne  was 
obliged  to  wait  for  the  dry  season.  While  he 
waited  the  impatient  Indians  swarmed  down 
to  Fort  Recovery  in  a  band  that  numbered, 
at  the  lowest  estimate,  1,500 — the  most  power- 
218 


The  Battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers 

ful  war  party  that  had  ever  faced  the  white 
men — even  more  powerful  than  that  which 
the  intrepid  Cornstalk  had  taken  to  Point 
Pleasant  in  1774.  A  number  of  British  sol 
diers  and  Canadians  were  in  the  band,  and 
they  were  accompanied  by  several  British  offi 
cers  who  intended  to  aid  the  Indians  with  ad 
vice — particularly  in  the  matter  of  handling 
some  cannon  that  had  been  abandoned  by  St. 
Clair,  and  had  been  hidden  by  the  Indians 
under  some  logs  in  the  woods.  The  cannon 
were  not  found,  however,  because  the  Amer 
icans  had  recovered  them ;  but  the  officers  re 
mained  to  encourage  the  red  warriors. 

The  Indians  reached  the  neighborhood  of 
Fort  Recovery  on  the  night  of  June  29,  1794. 
A  party  of  140  Americans  that  had  brought 
supplies  to  the  fort  was  encamped  without 
the  walls  that  night,  and  on  the  morning  of 
the  30th  the  Indians  charged  them  and  soon 
drove  them  within  the  fort,  with  no  small  loss. 
Then  the  exultant  red  men,  with  their  white 
allies,  dashed  up  to  the  fort  in  an  effort  to 
enter  in  with  the  flying  Americans,  or  at 
worst,  to  swarm  over  the  walls  and  massacre 
the  garrison. 

But  Captain  Alexander  Gibson,  who  com 
manded  the  fort,  though  he  had  less  than  one- 
219 


Anthony  Wayne 


fifth  as  many  men  as  were  in  the  attacking 
force,  closed  the  gate  in  time,  manned  the 
walls,  and  with  a  fire  that  was  made  deadly 
by  the  unceasing  practise  the  men  had  had, 
drove  the  enemy  back. 

One  repulse,  however,  could  not  defeat 
these  red  men ;  for  they  were  confident  of  ul 
timate  success  because  of  their  superior  num 
bers,  and  because  the  British  officers  were 
behind  them  to  urge  them  on.  Throughout 
the  whole  day  the  fort  was  closely  besieged; 
but  when  night  came  they  gathered  up  their 
dead  by  the  light  of  torches,  and  the  next 
morning,  after  the  failure  of  a  feeble  assault, 
they  filed  away  through  the  forest,  beaten. 

Three  weeks  later  General  Charles  Scott, 
with  more  than  1,000  mounted  militiamen 
from  Kentucky,  joined  Wayne,  and  on  July 
27th  the  army  began  once  more  its  north 
ward  march.  Scouts  were  kept  out  in  all  di 
rections,  and  they  were  so  active  and  vigilant 
that  the  Indian  scouts  were  baffled.  The  In 
dians  came  to  believe  that  Wayne  was  march 
ing  toward  the  head  of  the  Maumee  (Fort 
Wayne,  Ind.),  when  in  fact  he  was  headed  for 
the  junction  of  the  Maumee  and  Auglaise 
Elvers. 

On  the  banks  of  the  St.  Mary's  Eiver,  in 
220 


The  Battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers 

Mercer  County,  Wayne  paused  long  enough 
to  erect  a  stockade  for  the  protection  of  con 
voys  with  supplies.  He  named  it  Fort 
Adams,  and  then  continued  cutting  his  way 
through  the  solid  green  timber  in  Van  Wert 
and  Paulding  Counties  (I  saw  the  old  trail 
through  the  woods  often  forty  years  ago),  and 
he  reached  the  junction  of  the  Maumee  and 
Auglaise  Rivers  on  August  8th. 

The  French  had  named  this  big  tributary 
of  the  Maumee  Au  Glaise  because  of  the  rich 
loam  of  the  plains  found  there.  When 
Wayne  arrived  the  fields  of  corn  stretched 
away  for  miles  along  both  rivers,  and  the  corn 
was  in  the  black  silk,  but  the  Indians  were  to 
have  no  green-corn  dance  that  year.  A  de 
serter  named  Newman  had  given  the  Indians 
the  alarm,  so  that  they  fled  just  in  time  to  es 
cape,  but  their  homes  and  fields  were  deso 
lated,  and  a  fort  was  built  in  the  forks  of  the 
rivers  that,  with  his  rnind  on  the  British  in 
vaders,  Wayne  named  Fort  Defiance.  And 
the  town  of  Defiance,  Ohio,  perpetuates  its 
name. 

On  August  15th  Wayne  crossed  to  and 
marched  down  the  left  bank  of  the  Maumee. 
He  marched  slowly,  because  he  was  still  will 
ing  to  give  the  tribes  peace,  but  fortunately 
221 


Anthony  Wayne 


for  the  ultimate  result,  the  Indians  had  full 
confidence  that  the  British  in  the  fort  at  the 
foot  of  the  rapids  would  give  them  aid  in  bat 
tle,  and  succor  in  case  of  need,  as  they  had 
promised  to  do.  So  Wayne's  offers  were  re 
jected.  But  to  gain  time  for  bringing  on  re- 
enforcements  Chief  Little  Turtle  asked  for  a 
cessation  of  hostilities  for  ten  days,  promis 
ing  to  treat  at  the  end  of  that  time — a  request 
that  Wayne  refused  of  course. 

On  August  18,  1794,  Wayne  and  his  army 
arrived  at  a  spot  called  Roche  de  Bout,  at  the 
head  of  the  rapids,  where  he  camped.  The 
modern  village  of  Waterville  marks  the  site 
of  the  camping-ground.  Here  the  army  lay 
on  the  19th  while  numerous  scouts  examined 
the  enemy's  ground  and  a  small  fortification 
called  Fort  Deposit  was  thrown  up  to  protect 
the  baggage. 

Most  interesting  were  the  facts  that  the 
scouts  learned.  There  were  from  1,500  to 
2,000  Indians  and  70  white  Canadians  wait 
ing  to  meet  the  American  army.  The  ground 
where  they  were  lying  was  known  as  the 
Fallen  Timbers.  A  tornado  had  swept  across 
the  country  and  had  piled  up  the  huge  trees  of 
the  primitive  forest  in  confused  masses  and 
heaps  that  gave  ideal  cover  for  such  fighters 
222 


The  Battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers 

as  the  red  men.  The  British  fort  was  but  two 
miles  below  the  advance  edge  of  this  entangle 
ment,  and  the  Indians  were  confident  that  its 
garrison  would  come  to  their  aid  as  soon  as 
the  battle  was  begun. 

Having  studied  the  ground  well  on  the 
19th,  Wayne  gave  his  men  their  breakfast  the 
next  morning,  and  then  at  eight  o'clock,  with 
a  battalion  of  mounted  Kentuckians,  under 
Major  Price  as  an  advance-guard,  he  marched 
down  the  river  in  column.  Wayne  was  suf 
fering  from  gout  so  severely  that  morning 
that  he  could  not  mount  unaided,  and  four 
men  lifted  him  into  the  saddle.  The  pain 
brought  tears  to  his  eyes,  but  he  held  his 
place. 

When  between  five  and  six  miles  below 
the  camp,  Major  Price,  with  his  advance- 
guard,  saw  the  Indians  in  their  hiding-place, 
and  charged  them.  But  the  enemy  was  in  full 
force  among  those  tangled  masses  of  tree 
trunks,  and  they  opened  a  fire  that  literally 
hurled  the  Kentuckians  back  on  Wayne's  main 
army. 

The  supreme  moment  of  the  day  and  of 

the  long  war  on  the  frontier  had  come.    With 

instant  decision  Wayne  ordered  the  militia 

under  General  Scott  away  to  turn  the  enemy's 

223 


Anthony  Wayne 


right,  and  the  dragoons  of  the  Legion  to  cut 
in  between  the  river  and  the  enemy's  left. 
At  the  same  time  a  line  of  infantry  900  strong, 
with  bayonets  fixed,  was  stretched  before  the 
enemy,  while  a  second  line  was  placed  as  a 
reserve  in  the  rear,  and  then  he  gave  the  word 
to  charge. 

And  as  the  long  roll  of  the  drums  began, 
that  battle  line  leaped  forward,  yelling  with 
the  joy  of  the  conflict.  They  pitchforked  the 
red  men  and  their  allies  from  behind  the  logs, 
shot  them  down  as  they  fled,  and  dashing  on 
in  relentless  pursuit,  loaded  and  fired,  again 
and  again,  till  they  had  driven  the  panic- 
stricken  hosts  past  the  tight-closed  British 
fort,  and  scattered  them  far  and  away  in  the 
wilderness  beyond. 


224 


CHAPTER   XXII 

WHEN   HIS  WORK  WAS   DONE 

THAT  bayonet  charge  of  900  infantrymen 
decided  the  Battle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers,  for 
the  dragoons  and  the  mounted  militiamen 
were  able  to  join  in  only  after  the  bayonet  had 
forked  the  enemy  into  a  run.  It  also  practi 
cally  ended  the  long  war  on  the  frontier. 
There  were  a  few  small  raids  by  small  bodies 
of  red  men  thereafter,  but  the  hope  of  the 
tribes  was  gone.  The  Americans  lost  33 
killed  and  100  wounded.  The  Indians  lost 
two  or  three  times  as  many.  Several  of  the 
British  rangers  were  killed  also. 

With  promises  which  he  never  intended  to 
fulfil  the  British  Governor  had  urged  on  the 
Indians  to  fight.  He  did  this  solely  to  pro 
mote  the  British  fur  trade  and  other  British 
interests.  But  when  the  battle  came  the  gates 
of  the  fort  that  had  been  so  ostentatiously 
erected  on  the  banks  of  the  Maumee  for  the 
aid  and  protection  of  the  Indians  were  kept 
closed.  Not  one  red  man  found  protection 
there  from  the  bayonets  of  .Wayne's  fierce  in- 
225 


Anthony  Wayne 


fantry.  The  Indians  were  deliberately  aban 
doned  to  their  fate  then,  as  they  had  been  in 
1783,  and  they  well  understood  that  they  had 
been.  Said  Joseph  Brant,  the  great  Mohawk 
chief,  who  had  been  most  active  in  keeping 
alive  the  frontier  war  (who  had  striven  for 
years  to  form  a  war  league  among  the  West 
ern  tribes  to  force  back  the  American  home 
builders),  in  a  letter  to  Sir  John  Johnson: 

"The  Indians  were  engaged  in  a  war  to 
assist  the  English,"  but  were  "left  in  the  lurch 
at  the  peace,  to  fight  alone  until  they  could 
make  peace  for  themselves.  After  repeatedly 
defeating  the  armies  of  the  United  States  so 
that  they  sent  Commissioners  to  endeavor  to 
get  peace,  the  Indians  were  so  advised  as  pre 
vented  them  from  listening  to  any  terms  and 
hopes  were  given  them  of  assistance.  A  fort 
was  even  built  in  their  country,  under  pre 
tence  of  giving  refuge  in  case  of  necessity; 
but  when  that  time  came  the  gates  were  shut 
against  them  as  enemies.  .  .  .  They  relied 
upon  it  for  support  and  were  deceived." 

The  events  immediately  following  the  bat 
tle  also  impressed  the  Indians  deeply.  The 
British  fort  was  commanded  by  Major  Wil 
liam  Campbell.  On  August  21st  the  major 
wrote  to  Wayne  to  ask  "in  what  light  I  am  to 
226 


When  His   Work  was  Done 

view  your  making  such  near  approaches  to 
this  garrison!  "  Wayne  replied  that  "were 
you  entitled  to  an  answer,  the  most  full  and 
satisfactory  one  was  announced  to  you  from 
muzzles  of  my  small  arms  yesterday  morn 
ing." 

On  the  22d  Campbell  wrote  saying: 
"Should  you,  after  this,  continue  to  approach 
my  post  in  the  threatening  manner  you  are 
at  this  moment  doing,  my  indispensable  duty 
.  .  .  will  oblige  rae  to"  fire  on  you. 

By  the  latest  instructions  he  had  received 
Wayne  was  permitted  to  attack  this  fort  if,  in 
his  judgment,  it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  na 
tion  to  do  so;  for  Washington's  doubt  as  to 
Wayne's  ability  and  good  judgment  had  van 
ished.  When  Wayne  was  clearing  the  eyes 
and  stiffening  the  backbones  of  the  slouching 
mob  that  had  been  given  to  him  as  an  army, 
he  was  clearing  other  eyes  than  those  of  his 
recruits.  But  Wayne  thought  it  was  not  yet 
necessary  to  attack  the  fort ;  instead  of  doing 
so  he  replied  to  Major  Campbell's  letter  by 
sweeping  from  the  ground  every  building  (in 
cluding  the  trading  store  of  Alexander  Mc- 
Kee,  the  British  Indian  agent),  and  every 
other  improvement,  up  to,  and  "even  under 
the  muzzles  of  the  guns  "  in  the  fort. 
227 


Anthony  Wayne 


It  is  certain  that  this  destruction  of  Brit 
ish  property  under  the  guns  of  a  fort  manned 
by  British  soldiers  finally  and  fully  convinced 
the  Indian  sachems  that  their  hope  of  help 
from  the  British  was  gone  forever. 

After  clearing  the  ground  about  Fort 
Miami,  Wayne  went  down  the  river  and  built 
a  wooden  fort,  called  Fort  Industry,  on  land 
that  now  forms  the  "easterly  corner  of  Sum 
mit  and  Monroe  Streets,"  Toledo,  Ohio 
(Gunckel's  "Maumee  Valley").  When  this 
was  finished  and  garrisoned  the  army  moved 
slowly  up  the  Maumee  Valley.  The  Indian 
settlements  had  looked  like  a  continuous  vil 
lage,  and  the  valley  was  one  vast  cornfield. 
But  in  the  interests  of  peace  all  the  villages 
and  the  corn  had  to  be  destroyed;  and  the 
work  was  done  thoroughly. 

At  the  junction  of  the  St.  Mary's  and  St. 
Joseph's  Rivers — the  head  of  the  Maumee — 
where  the  army  arrived  on  September  17th, 
a  large  fort  was  built,  and  placed  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  John  F.  Hamtramck, 
who,  on  October  20,  1794,  "after  a  discharge 
of  15  guns,  and  naming  the  fort  by  a  garrison 
order  *  Fort  Wayne/  marched  his  command 
into  it."  (Captain  John  Cooke's  Journal.) 

Wayne  left  Fort  Wayne  on  October  27th 
228 


When  His  Work  was  Done 

(after  having,  in  the  meantime,  built  boats 
for  the  navigation  of  the  Maurnee,  and  other 
wise  provided  for  holding  the  country),  and 
reached  Greenville  on  Sunday,  November  2, 
1794.  Here  he  settled  down  for  the  winter. 
And  here,  on  August  3,  1795,  he  concluded  a 
treaty  with  15  tribes  and  divisions  of  tribes, 
"to  put  an  end  to  a  destructive  war,  to  settle 
all  controversies,  and  to  restore  harmony  and 
friendly  intercourse "  between  the  Indians 
and  the  United  States;  also  to  establish  a 
boundary  between  the  red  men  and  the  white. 
And  this  the  treaty  did.  For  the  first  time 
in  twenty  years  there  was  peace  on  the  fron 
tier,  and  the  peace  lasted  nearly  fifteen  years. 

It  is  pleasing  to  remember  that  in  negoti 
ating  this  treaty  Wayne  frankly  and  fully  ex 
plained  its  meaning  again  and  again  to  the 
Indians.  They  learned  exactly  what  land 
they  were  selling  and  exactly  what  was  ex 
pected  of  them.  In  return  for  the  cession 
they  received  $20,000  worth  of  goods,  which 
were  distributed  to  the  1,130  Indians  present, 
while  annuities  amounting  in  all  to  $9,500 
were  granted  to  the  tribes  represented.  Then 
"as  a  last  word,"  Wayne  told  the  Indians  they 
were  "children  and  no  longer  brothers." 

But  more  than  peace  with  the  red  man  was 
obtained  by  this  work  of  Anthony  Wayne.  A 
229 


Anthony  Wayne 


war  with  Great  Britain  was  averted  by  the 
victory  at  the  Fallen  Timbers.  John  Jay  had 
been  sent  to  London  to  negotiate  a  treaty,  a 
chief  object  of  which  was  to  secure  to  the 
United  States  the  territory  defined  by  the 
treaty  of  1783  and  the  evacuation  of  the 
American  frontier  posts  that  the  British  had 
been  holding  in  defiance  of  that  treaty,  and 
had,  indeed,  strengthened,  as  if  intending  to 
hold  them  forever.  When  Jay  arrived  and 
opened  negotiations,  the  British  commis 
sioner  (Grenville),  who  had  heard  of  the  skill 
of  Wayne's  Legion,  stipulated  first  of  all  that 
there  should  be  no  overt  act  of  war  between 
the  two  nations  during  the  negotiations.  And 
when  he  heard  how  the  bayonet  had  done  the 
work  at  Fallen  Timbers,  he  promptly  agreed 
that  the  British  would  abandon  the  forts  they 
had  held  so  long. 

It  was  Anthony  Wayne  who  first  spread 
the  Gridiron  Flag  over  all  the  broad  domain 
between  the  Ohio  River,  the  Great  Lakes,  and 
the  Mississippi  River.  It  was  he  that  opened 
the  way  for  the  home  builders,  who  soon  came 
in  throngs  over  all  the  routes  to  the  new  land. 

Praise  had  not  been  lacking  during  the  ca 
reer  of  Anthony  Wayne,  even  though  the  envy 
of  lesser  minds  had  given  Washington  an  in 
correct  view  of  the  man.  But  after  his  work 
230 


When  His  Work  was  Done 

at  Greenville  had  been  completed  he  was  to 
have  one  day  of  glory.  For  three  years  he 
had  lived  in  the  wilderness,  where  at  times 
weeks  passed  without  news  from  the  civilized 
part  of  the  nation.  But  after  the  treaty  was 
concluded,  and  everything  was  made  secure, 
Wayne  returned  to  Pennsylvania.  How  he 
was  applauded  along  the  route  by  the  hero- 
worshiping  populace  one  "can  better  imagine 
than  express,"  to  quote  words  he  often  used 
in  his  letters.  On  Saturday,  February  6, 
1796,  he  reached  Philadelphia.  Four  miles 
from  the  city  three  troops  of  light  horse  from 
the  city  met  him,  to  serve  him  as  a  guard  of 
honor.  A  salute  of  15  guns  was  fired  as  he 
crossed  the  ferry,  and  "he  was  ushered  into 
the  city  by  the  ringing  of  bells,  and  other 
demonstrations  of  joy,  and  thousands  of  citi 
zens  crowded  to  see  and  welcome  the  return 
of  their  brave  general,  whom  they  attended  to 
the  city  tavern,  where  he  alighted.  In  the 
evening  a  display  of  fireworks  was  exhibited  " 
(Pennsylvania  Gazette,  February  10,  1796). 
And  Congress  had  resolved  (December  4, 
1794)  "That  the  thanks  of  this  House  be 
given  to  Major-General  Wayne  for  the  good 
conduct  and  bravery  displayed  by  him  in  the 
action  of  the  twentieth  of  August  last,  with 
the  Indians." 

231 


Anthony  Wayne 

But  when  Wayne's  greatest  hour  of  glory 
and  joy  came  to  him — when  all  men  acknowl 
edged  the  worth  of  his  work — the  sun  was 
low  down  in  the  afternoon  of  his  day. 

On  April  30,  1796,  the  House  decided  to 
vote  appropriations  to  carry  into  effect  Jay's 
treaty  with  England,  and  orders  were  sent  by 
the  British  authorities  to  commanders  of  the 
posts  on  the  American  territory  to  deliver 
them  up  to  the  Americans.  Fort  Miami,  on 
the  Maumee,  had  been  abandoned  by  the  Brit 
ish  on  July  11,  1795,  and  now  that  the  others 
were  to  be  evacuated,  Wayne  was  appointed 
to  receive  them. 

"He  knew  the  English  on  the  border,  with 
their  allies  the  Indians,  and  they  knew  him," 
says  one  writer.  Moreover,  the  man  who  had 
won  the  territory  was  the  one  to  whom  the 
honor  of  receiving  it  was  due. 

Wayne  left  home  on  this  mission  in  July, 
1796.  It  is  worth  noting  that  one  Moses 
Cleaveland,  with  a  party  of  50  pioneers,  had 
left  Connecticut  the  preceding  month  on  his 
way  to  settle  where  Cleveland,  Ohio,  now 
stands — the  first  of  the  great  hosts  of  home 
makers  who  thronged  to  the  region  to  which 
Wayne  had  confirmed  the  American  title. 

Of  Wayne's  meeting  with  the  British  offi 
cials  and  with  the  Indians,  and  of  the  transfer 
232 


When  His  Work  was  Done 

of  the  posts,  one  fact  only  is  memorable: 
.Wayne  was  treated  with  the  distinguished 
consideration  that  soldiers  and  warriors — 
men  trained  to  fight — always  give  to  one  who 
has  met  them  man-fashion.  The  Miami  In 
dians  had  named  him  Black  Snake  because  of 
the  relentless  manner  in  which  his  army  had 
penetrated  the  wilderness  thickets  in  search 
of  the  enemy.  The  Pottawattamies  called 
him  the  Tornado  because  of  the  impetuosity 
of  his  men  when  they  charged  at  the  Fallen 
Timbers. 

In  November,  when  this  work  was  finally 
done,  Wayne  sailed  from  Detroit  in  the  sloop 
Detroit,  for  Presque  Isle  (Erie,  Pa.).  On 
November  17th,  the  day  before  he  landed,  he 
was  seized  with  an  attack  of  his  old  enemy, 
the  gout.  He  was  taken  ashore  on  the  18th, 
and  at  the  American  fortress  overlooking  the 
bay  he  was  cared  for  as  tenderly  as  possible. 

But  care  was  unavailing.  "How  long  he 
can  continue  to  suffer  such  torture  is  hard  to 
say,"  wrote  one  of  the  garrison  on  December 
14th,  "but  it  appears  to  me  that  nature  must 
soon  sink  under  such  acute  affliction."  In 
his  life  he  had  faced  every  vicissitude  of  a 
soldier's  career  with  clear  eyes,  and  now, 
with  unbroken  fortitude,  he  died. 

The  end  came  at  ten  minutes  after  two 
16  233 


Anthony  Wayne 


o'clock  on  the  morning  of  December  15,  1796. 
At  his  request  they  buried  him  at  the  foot  of 
the  flagstaff  of  the  fortress.  He  wished  to 
lie  under  the  shadow  of  the  flag  for  which  he 
had  fought  faithfully  and  well. 

Here  his  body  remained  until  1809,  when, 
at  the  request  of  his  son,  Colonel  Isaac 
Wayne,  his  bones  were  taken  up  and  carried 
to  St.  David's  churchyard,  at  Eadnor,  near 
Philadelphia.  There  a  modest  monument 
was  erected  by  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati, 
on  which  these  words  were  inscribed: 

(North  Front) 

Major  General 

Anthony  Wayne 

was  born  at  Waynesborough 

In  Chester  County 
State  of  Pennsylvania 

A.  D.  1745. 

After  a  life  of  Honor  &  Usefulness 
He  died  in  December  1796, 

At  a  military  post 

On  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie 

Commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  of 

The  United  States. 
His  military  achievements 

Are  consecrated 
In  the  history  of  his  country 

And  in 
The  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 

His  Remains 
Are  here  Deposited. 

234 


When  His  Work  was  Done 

(South  Front) 

In  honor  of  the  distinguished 
Military  Services  of 

MAJOR  GENERAL  ANTHONY  WAYNE 
And  as  an  affectionate  tribute 

of  respect  to  his  Memory 
This  Stone  was  erected  by  his  Companions 

In  Arms 
The  Pennsylvania  State  Society  of 

The  Cincinnati, 

July  4th  A.  D.  1809, 

Thirty  fourth  anniversary  of 

The  Independence  of  the  United  States, 

An  event  which  constitutes  the  most 

Appropriate  Eulogium 

Of  an  American  Soldier  and 

Patriot. 

In  1876  the  original  grave  at  Erie  was 
discovered,  and  in  1879  an  appropriation  of 
$1,000  was  obtained  from  the  State  Legisla 
ture  by  patriotic  citizens  of  the  city.  To  this 
the  citizens  added  $500,  and  with  the  total 
sum  a  stone  was  placed  on  the  grave  where 
the  dust  of  his  body  reposed.  Over  this 
stone  a  model  of  a  blockhouse  of  squared  oak 
logs  was  erected,  16  feet  square  and  10  feet 
high.  Above  that  a  second  story,  octagonal 
in  shape,  was  built,  and  from  the  center  of 
the  roof — directly  above  the  grave — was 
erected  a  flagstaff,  from  which  the  Gridiron 
Flag  is  flung  to  the  breeze. 
235 


Anthony  Wayne 


With  the  monument  at  Radnor  and  the 
flagstaff  at  Erie  in  mind,  one  might  believe 
that  "the  paths  of  glory  lead  but  to  the 
grave."  Yet  it  is  not  so.  For  while  the 
memory  of  his  work  remains,  who  can  esti 
mate  the  influence  of  a  hero  upon  his  coun 
trymen? 


236 


INDEX 


ADA 

ADAMS,  JOHN,  on  warlike 
activity   of   Quakers,    20; 
Indignant,  "shoot  a  general," 
174. 

Allen,  Lieut.-Col.  William, 
with  Sullivan's  army,  42. 

Allentown,  British  at,  114. 

Amboy,  British  at,  48. 

Ammunition,  American,  de 
stroyed  by  rain,  77. 

Andre,  Maj.,  writes  "Cow 
Chace,"  163;  contempt  for 
Americans,  164. 

Archer,  Henry  W.,  Congress 
thanks,  158. 

Armstrong,  Col.  John,  at  Kit- 
tanning,  3,  4;  militia  under, 
at  Pyle's  Ford  (Brandywine), 
71;  (general)  at  Germantown, 
89. 

Arnold,  Benedict,  sends  Wil 
kinson  for  help,  41;  escapes 
enemy,  42;  climbs  Mount  De 
fiance,  49;  his  heart-breaking 
treason,  166;  robs  Americans 
of  a  hero,  167. 

Assembly  of  Representatives, 
14. 

Au  Glaise  River  named,  221. 

Ayres,  Captain,  of  tea  ship 
Polly,  15;  warned,  16;  leaves 
with  cargo,  17. 

BAYARD,     COL.,     sent    for 
clothes  and  arms,  106. 
Bayonets   necessary   on   battle 
field,  61;  described,  108. 


BUG 

Bear  Mountain,  149. 

Bienville  de  Celeron,  visits 
Ohio  Valley,  1. 

"Black  Snake,"  Indian  name 
of  Wayne,  233. 

Bland,  Col.,  at  Germantown, 
94. 

Bloodgood,  describes  Pennsyl- 
vanians,  26. 

Boasters,  Carleton's  idea  of, 
32. 

Boys,  Wayne  trains,  4;  in  the 
army,  55. 

Braddock,  intentions  of,  2;  in 
fluence  of  defeat  on  Anthony 
Wayne,  4,  5. 

Brandywine,  events  leading  to 
battle  of,  68;  the  battle,  72. 

Brant,  Joseph,  Indian,  tells  of 
British  perfidy,  226. 

Brinton's  Ford,  Americans  de 
fend,  71. 

British,  plan  of  action  in  1776, 
49;  declare  war  against 
France,  112;  refuse  to  evacu 
ate  Detroit,  200;  exultant 
when  St.  Glair  defeated,  204; 
idea  of  Wayne,  207;  "smooth 
duplicity"  of,  210;  view  of 
Wayne's  work,  212;  build  fort 
on  Maumee,  215;  abandon 
their  red  allies,  226;  evacuate 
Fort  Maumee,  232. 

Brown,  Col.,  whipped  and  lost 
in  swamp,  190. 

Buchanan,  Capt.,  at  Brandy- 
wine,  74. 


237 


Anthony  Wayne 


BUG 

''Buckskin, "  nickname  for 
Southern  troops,  27. 

Burgoyne,  Gates  aids  indirect 
ly,  49;  takes  Ticonderoga,  66. 

Butcher  knighted,  164. 

Butler,  Col.  Richard,  at  Mon- 
mouth,  118;  Wayne  praises, 
126;  Wayne's  interest  in,  136; 
at  Stony  Point,  142,  147,  150, 
152;  follows  mutineers,  174; 
killed,  204. 


/^lALHOUN,    the   widow,    ar- 

^     rested,  148. 

Campbell,  Maj.  William,  let 
ters  to  Wayne,  226,  227. 

Canada,  French  raid  from,  1. 

Cannibalism,  3. 

Carleton,  Guy,  cooped  in  Que 
bec,  21;  marches  out  of  Que 
bec,  32;  looks  at  Ticonderoga 
and  retreats,  47;  news  of,  a 
stimulant,  51;  as  Lord  Dor 
chester,  incites  Indians  to 
fight  Americans,  214. 

Chadd's  Ford,  Wayne  defends, 
71. 

Chambers,  Col.  James,  tells  of 
retreat  at  Brandy  wine,  74; 
takes  guns,  75. 

Chambly,  42,  44. 

Champion,  Capt.  Henry,  at 
Stony  Point,  142. 

Charleston,  British  cooped  in, 
185;  Wayne  enters,  192. 

Cherokee  Indians,  in  Georgia, 
187;  peace  treaty  with,  193. 

Chester  County,  Wayne's  own, 
1,  3. 

Chestnut  Hill,  Germantown,  89. 

Chew,  Benjamin,  Chief  Justice, 
his  mansion,  88,  90,  91. 

Chrystie,  Capt.  James,  at  Stony 
Point,  147. 

238 


COB 

Clarke,   Sir  Arnold,  commands 

in  Georgia,  187. 
Clement,  Wayne's  troops  reach, 

149. 

Clinton,  Sir  Henry,  ordered  to 
New  York  City,  112;  purpose 
before  Monmouth  battle,  114; 
plans     to     "outwit"     Ameri 
cans,      115;     rear-guard     at 
tacked,   117;   tactics   at  Mon 
mouth,    119;    orders    to,    139; 
goes  up  Hudson,   139;   orders 
Connecticut  ravaged,  141. 
Cocquard,   Father  Claude  God 
frey,    S.    J.,    tells    of    Indian 
cannibalism,  3. 
Coe,  Capt.,  arrested,  55. 
Collier,     Sir     George,     ravages 

Connecticut  coast,  141. 
"Commodore,"  the,  nicknames 
Wayne  "Mad  Anthony,"  182. 
Congress,  Continental,  22;  or 
ders  Wayne  to  New  York  and 
Canada,  29,  30;  orders  capture 
of  St.  Johns  and  Montreal,  30; 
sends  soldiers  to  Canada,  30- 
32;  enlists  one-year  men,  52; 
thanks  heroes  of  Stony  Point, 
158;  when  it  heard  mutineer 
soldiers  were  coming,  175; 
makes  Wayne  a  major-gen 
eral,  193;  organizes  Northwest 
Territory,  200;  afraid  of  stand 
ing  army,  203;  authorizes 
army,  205;  thanks  Wayne,  231. 
Conshohocken,  Americans  at, 

76. 

Contractors  as  thieves,  209. 
Contrecceur      gets      Fort     Du- 

quesne,  2. 

Conway  at  Germantown,  89. 
Cornstalk,   Indian,  219. 
Cornwallis,    Lord,    at    Brandy- 
wine,   72;    at   Warren   tavern, 
77;  sent  to  take  Philadelphia, 


Index 


COTT 

86;  at  Monmouth,  123;  driven 
toward  Yorktown,  177;  traps 
Wayne,  180;  hedged  in  at 
Yorktown,  184. 

County  Committee  of  Safety, 
Chester,  "Wayne  on,  18,  19; 
declares  against  independ 
ence,  20. 

"Cow  Chace,"  171,  et  seq. 

Cranberry,  Washington  at,  116. 

Creeks,  Indians,  in  revolution 
in  Georgia,  186;  Creek  chiefs 
captured,  188;  peace  treaty 
with,  193. 

Crown  Point  threatened  by 
Braddock,  2,  3;  captured  by 
patriots,  30;  Americans  re 
treat  to,  44;  evacuated,  47. 

DEANE,  envoy  to  France,  a 
trator,  167. 

Defiance,   Mt.,  climbed,  49. 

Detroit,  held  by  British,  200. 

Detroit,   sloop,  233. 

Dickenson,  Gen.,  at  Monmouth, 
117. 

Dickenson,  John,  to  Pennsyl 
vania  Assembly,  14;  on  Colo 
nial  Committee,  21. 

Dogs,  Wayne  kills,  148. 

Dorchester,  Lord.  See  Carle- 
ton,  Guy. 

Douglas,  Lieut.,  at  Brandy- 
wine,  74. 

Dunbar  in  retreat  of  Brad- 
dock's  troops,  3. 

Dunderberg,  retreat  over,  139; 
Wayne  crosses,  150. 


E  ASTON      (Pa.),      base      of 
American  supplies,  140. 
Easttown,   Wayne's   birthplace, 

1. 
Ebenezer,  Americans  at,  187. 


FOR 

Elk  Ferry,  British  land  at,  67. 
Elliot,     Capt.,    Tory    partizan, 

216. 
England,    war   with    Spain,    6; 

controversies    with    colonies, 

10,  15. 

Englishtown,  Lafayette  at,  116. 
Erie  (Presque  Isle),  233. 
Espontoons,    Wayne    asks    for, 

146. 
Estaing,  Count  d',  arrives  with 

fleet  and  men,  130. 
Eutaw  Springs,  fight  at,  185. 

TT1AIRFAX,  LORD,  and 
Washington,  7. 

Fallen  Timbers,  battle  of,  222, 
et  seq. 

Febiger,  Col.  Christian,  at 
Stony  Point,  141,  142,  150,  152; 
goes  to  Virginia,  161. 

Ferguson,  Maj.  Patrick,  73. 

Firelocks,  described,  21. 

Fleury,  Lieut.-Col.,  at  Stony 
Point,  142,  150;  hauls  down 
British  flag,  155;  Congress 
thanks,  158. 

Forbes,  Gen.,  organizes  army, 
4. 

Fort  Presque  Isle,  2;  Waterford, 
2;  Du  Quesne  (Pitt),  2;  Ticon- 
deroga,  27,  30,  46,  47,  49,  51, 
174;  Crown  Point,  30,  45,  46; 
Mt.  Independence,  48,  55; 
George,  51;  Mercer,  97;  Mif- 
flin,  97;  Providence  Island, 
98;  Stony  Point,  139,  et  seq.; 
Verplanck's  Point,  139;  Mont 
gomery,  140,  143,  149;  Lee, 
162;  blockhouse,  162;  West 
Point,  166,  et  seq.;  York- 
town,  177;  Harmar,  202; 
Washington,  202;  Miami,  215; 
232;  Greene,  218;  Jefferson, 
218;  Recovery,  218;  Adams, 


239 


Anthony  Wayne 


FOR 

221;  Defiance,  221;  Deposit, 
222;  Industry,  228;  Wayne, 
228. 

Fort  Wayne,  Indian  villages  at, 
raided,  202;  named,  228. 

France,  recognizes  independ 
ence  of  the  United  States, 
112;  American  hopes  in  re 
gard  to,  130. 

Franklin,  his  opinion  of  Wayne, 
7,  8;  organizes  colonizing  as 
sociation,  8;  on  Colonial  Com 
mittee,  21. 

Fraser,  Gen.,  startled  at  Three 
Rivers,  36. 

Freehold,  British  at,  115. 

French  Creek,  navigation  on, 
2. 

French,  expedition  to  Ohio  Val 
ley,  1;  and  British,  1,  2;  at 
Presque  Isle,  2;  lead  Indians, 
3;  raids  influence  Wayne,  5; 
reach  Yorktown,  184. 

Fur  buyers  and  the  war,  200. 


/"^  ATES,   GEN.,   incompetent, 

^J  46;  ignores  Mt.  Defiance, 
49;  "attention  to,"  profitable, 
57;  sneers  at  Wayne,  183. 

Georgia,  Wayne  frees,  182,  et 
seq. 

Germain,  Lord  George,  direc 
tions  as  to  "Mr.  Washing 
ton,"  139. 

Germantown,  rolls  taken  at,  76; 
Washington  at,  76;  described, 
87;  battle  at,  89,  et  seq. 

Gibbons,  Capt.,  luck  at  Stony 
Point,  153;  Congress  thanks, 
158. 

Gibson,  Capt.  Alexander,  beats 
back  Indians,  219,  220. 

Government,  American,  breaks 
faith  with  soldiers,  193. 


noL 

Grant,  Gen.,  offered  battle,  65; 
his  coat  was  soiled,  66;  at 
Germantown,  88. 

Graydon,  Alexander,  describes 
Wayne,  62;  on  Wayne's  style, 
66. 

Greene,  Nathaniel,  Maj.-Gen., 
at  Brandy  wine,  72;  at  Ger 
mantown,  89;  commands 
Southern  Dept.,  177;  fort 
named  after,  218. 

Green  Spring,  fight  at,  180,  et 
seq.,  184. 

Greenville,  Wayne  at,  217. 

Grenville,  British  commission 
er,  230. 

Grey,  Gen.,  night  attack  on 
Wayne,  80;  at  Germantown, 
88,  93. 

Guristersijo  leads  night  attack 
on  Wayne,  191. 


TTA  M  M  O  N  D,         describes 

-1--1-    Wayne,  207. 

Hampton,  Col.  Wade,  in  Geor 
gia,  186. 

Hamtramck,  Col.  John  F.,  228. 

Hardin,  Col.  John,  peace  en 
voy,  murdered,  208. 

Harmar,  Gen.  Josiah,  expedi 
tion  raiding  Indians,  202. 

Hay,  Lieut.-Col.  Samuel,  at 
Stony  Point,  142. 

Hazlewood,  Commodore,  of 
Penn.  fleet,  97. 

Henry,  William,  supplies  bayo 
nets,  108. 

Hessians,  at  Paoli  massacre,  82; 
at  Germantown,  92. 

Heth,  Capt.,  tells  of  German- 
town,  95. 

Highlands,  threatened,  140. 

Holida,  Jonah,  knocked  down 
by  Wayne,  54. 


240 


Index 


HOM 

Homeseekers,  in  Northwest 
territory,  200;  number  killed, 
202. 

Hopewell,  council  of  war  at, 
114. 

Howe,  takes  New  York,  49;  on 
way  to  Philadelphia,  66;  at 
Brandy  wine,  70,  et  seq.; 
Washington  hunts  for,  76; 
opinion  of  American  army 
expressed,  76;  gets  details  of 
Wayne's  forces,  79;  night 
march,  85;  admits  defeat  at 
Germantown,  92;  below  Phil 
adelphia,  97;  into  winter 
quarters,  101. 

Hull,  Maj.  William,  at  Stony 
Point,  142. 

Humpton,  Col.  Richard,  at  Pa- 
oli  tavern,  81;  blamed,  84. 

Hunter,  Lieut.,  at  Paoli  fight, 
82. 


IMLAYSTOWN,     British     at, 
114. 

Indians,  cannibalism,  3;  raids, 
3;  in  Georgia,  186,  187;  Wayne 
deceives  Greek  chiefs,  188; 
attack  Wayne  at  night,  191; 
peace  treaties  with,  193;  urged 
to  claim  land,  200;  treaties 
with,  201;  extent  of  devasta 
tions,  202;  defeat  St.  Clair, 
203,  204;  murder  peace  envoys, 
208;  treating  with,  208;  Brit 
ish  encourage,  210,  215;  aston 
ished  by  Legion's  skill,  212; 
warriors  gather  on  the  Mau- 
mee,  216;  haunt  Wayne's 
trail,  218;  attack  fort,  219; 
outwitted,  220;  alarmed,  221; 
confident,  222;  whipped,  at 
Fallen  Timbers,  222,  et  seq.; 
deserted  by  British,  225,  226; 


KNY 

treaty  with  Wayne,  229; 
"children,  not  brothers,"  229. 
Irvine,  Col.,  at  Three  Rivers, 
35;  captured,  40;  Wayne's  in 
terest  in,  136;  appeals  to  offi 
cers  about  to  resign,  166;  with 
Wayne,  168;  after  Arnold's 
treason,  169. 


JACKSON,       ANDREW,       as 

v      duelist,  129. 

Jackson,  Col.  James,  in  Geor 
gia,  186. 

Jaques,  Benjamin,  patriot,  farm 
occupied,  143. 

"Jemy  the  Rover,"  nicknames 
Wayne,  182. 

Jerseymen  at  Three  Rivers,  34. 

Johnson,  Lieut.-Col.  Henry, 
commands  Stony  Point,  145. 

Johnson,  Sir  John,  Brant's  let 
ter  to,  226. 

Jones,  John  Paul,  every  kind  of 
a  fighting  man,  129. 

Jones's  Ford,  on  Brandywine, 
71. 

Jones's  tavern,  140. 


KENTUCKY,    people    killed 
in,  by  Indians,  202;  sends 

aid  to  Wayne,  220;  Kingston, 

116. 
Knox,  Gen.  Henry,  blunders  at 

Germantown,  91;  Secretary  of 

War,  advises  Wayne,  209,  210; 

faint-hearted,  217. 
Knox,  Lieut.  George,    luck    at 

Stony    Point,    153;    Congress 

thanks,  158. 
Knyphausen,     at    Brandywine, 

72;   attack  on  Wayne,   73;  at 

Germantown,  88,  92;  sent  with 

baggage,  115. 


241 


Anthony  Wayne 


LAB 

LA  BCEUF,  Washington  at, 
2. 

Lacy,  Col.,  at  Germantown,  92. 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  86;  at 
Monmouth  council  of  war, 
113;  oversight  of  forces,  116; 
joined  by  Wayne,  179. 

Langlade,  Charles,  attacks  Pic- 
awillany,  2. 

Laurens,  Col.  John,  wounds 
Gen.  Lee  in  duel,  129. 

Lee,  Charles,  "experienced  gen 
eral,"  45;  gives  Howe  plans, 
66;  at  council  before  Mon 
mouth,  113;  betrays  Ameri 
cans,  114;  dies  a  natural 
death,  128;  attacks  Washing 
ton,  Steuben,  and  Wayne, 
128;  duel,  129. 

Lee,  Maj.  "Light  -  Horse 
Harry,"  Wayne  writes  to, 
126;  patrols  at  Stony  Point, 
147;  Washington's  first  choice 
to  win  the  Northwest  terri 
tory,  205;  Washington  writes 
to,  207. 

Legion  of  the  U.  S.,  205;  enlist 
ments  into,  208,  et  seq.; 
moved  to  Legionville,  209;  to 
Cincinnati,  209;  drilled,  210, 
211;  skill,  212;  leaves  Ft. 
Washington,  217;  gets  needed 
experience,  218;  at  Fallen 
Timbers,  222,  et  seq. 

Legionville  named,  209. 

Legislature  of  Georgia,  consults 
with  Wayne,  187;  rewards 
Wayne  for  driving  British  out 
of  Georgia,  192. 

Leonidas,  a  modern,  126. 

Lincoln,  Benjamin,  peace  com 
missioner,  208. 

"Little  Gibraltar"  —  Stony 

Point,  145. 


MON 

Little  Turtle  secures  help,  214; 
asks  Wayne  to  delay,  222. 

Long,  Commissary  John,  un 
easy,  104. 

Lynch  law,  an  incident  of,  176. 


MACPHERSON,  WILLIAM, 
commissioned  a  major, 
165. 

Madison  on  Wayne's  confirma 
tion  as  commander  in  North 
west,  207. 

Magan,  Robert,  colonel  of 
Pennsylvania  battalion,  23. 

Malcom,  Col.,  reports  on  Brit 
ish  work,  144. 

Marietta,  St.  Clair,  comes  to, 
201. 

Maumee  River,  Wayne  on,  220, 
221;  Wayne  builds  boats  for, 
228. 

Maxwell,  Col.,  his  battalion  at 
Three  Rivers,  35,  et  seq.;  at 
Brandy  wine,  72;  at  German- 
town  (Chew's  mansion),  91; 
at  Monmouth,  118. 

McKee,  Alexander,  gives  In 
dians  good  guns,  216;  store 
destroyed,  227. 

McLane,  Capt.  Allen,  at  Stony 
Point,  147. 

Meigs,  Col.  Return  Jonathan, 
at  Stony  Point,  142,  150. 

Miami  Indians  name  Wayne, 
233. 

Middlebrook,  Washington 
marches  to,  62,  140. 

Mifflin,  Gen.,  a  politician,  194. 

Monckton,  Col.,  attacks  Wayne, 
123;  killed,  125. 

Monmouth,  battle  of,  at  hand, 
111;  story  of,  112,  et  seq. 

Monongahela  Valley  settled,  2. 


242 


Index 


MON 
Montreal,        threatened,        30; 

Arnold  at,  41. 
Morgan,  his  corps,  98. 
Morris,     Robert,     on     Colonial 

Committee,  21;  Wayne  writes 

to,  132. 
Morristown,   patriots   camp   at, 

59;  Wayne  at,  60. 
Mount  Airy,    Germantown,    88; 

attack  on,  89. 
Mount  Defiance,  48. 
Mount  Independence,  48. 
Moylan's  dragoons   in  Georgia, 

186. 
Muhlenberg,    Gen.,    brigade   at 

Brandywine,  71. 
Murfree,  Major  Hardy,  at  Stony 

Point,  142,  150,  154. 
Musgrave,     Col.,     at    German- 
town,  88;  attacked,  90. 
Muskets  to  replace  rifles,  61. 
Mutiny   of  Penn.    Line,   170,  et 

seq. ',  second  mutiny,  178. 


NASH,    GEN.,    at    German- 
town,  91. 

Navy,  Provincial  Assembly  pro 
vides  for,  22. 
Neilson,   Captain,   company   of, 

makes  trouble,  53. 
New  Brunswick,  British  at,  47. 
New  Jersey,  soldiers  in  Canada, 

34;    overrun    by    British,    50; 

almost   retrieved,   59;   Wayne 

forages  in,  110. 
Newman  a  deserter,  221. 
New    York,    Americans    driven 

from,  47. 

Nicolet,  Americans  at,  34. 
"No  quarter,"  82. 
Norfolk  burned,  effect  of,  157. 
"Northern        Gateway,"         30; 

Wayne  guards,  50. 


PEN 

Northwest  territory  organized, 
200. 

Nova  Scotia,  Wayne  in  coloni 
zing  company,  8. 


OGEECHEE    River,    end    of 
Wayne's  line  of  posts,  187. 
Ogeechee  road  fight,  189. 
Oswald,     Colonel,     artillery    at 
Monmouth,  120. 


PAOLI,  Wayne  born  at,  11; 
"massacre"  at,  80,  et 
aeq. 

Pattison,  Gen.,  describes  Stony 
Point  armament,  145. 

Paulding  County,  Ohio,  trail 
through,  221. 

Paulus  Hook,  British  at,  48. 

Pennsylvania  Assembly,  14;  re 
quested  to  furnish  troops,  22, 
23;  constitution  of,  65,  196; 
Legislature  remonstrates,  104; 
grants  soldiers  temporary  re 
lief,  133;  when  it  heard  sol 
diers  were  coming,  175. 

Pennsylvania  Line,  Wayne  col 
onel  of,  23;  men  described,  26, 
28;  Thatcher  on,  27;  in  riot, 
27;  ordered  to  New  York,  29; 
in  Canada,  34;  spirit  of,  51; 
Wayne  praises,  58;  at  Brandy- 
wine,  69;  at  Chadd's  Ford, 
71-74;  at  Paoli  tavern,  81;  at 
Germantown,  90;  in  disorder, 
93;  at  Monmouth,  118,  121;  St. 
Glair  commands,  134;  cover 
Haverstraw  road,  140;  mutiny 
of,  171;  detachment  sent 
South,  177;  mutiny  again,  178. 

Penrose,  Bartholomew,  Wayne's 
father-in-law,  11. 

Penrose,         Mary,         becomes 


243 


Anthony  Wayne 


TET 

Wayne's  wife,  11;  pet  names 
for,  68. 

Peters,  Richard,  Wayne  writes 
to,  56,  98,  104,  105,  108. 

Philadelphia,  army  organized 
at,  4;  plans  to  capture,  66; 
Cornwallis  sent  to  take,  86; 
plan  for  attack  on,  100;  taken 
by  British,  112;  society  in, 
described,  131;  Wayne's  bones 
buried  near,  234. 

Phillips,  Gen.,  joins  Cornwallis, 
179. 

Picawillany,  British  post  at 
tacked,  2. 

Pickering,  Timothy,  peace 
commissioner,  208. 

Pike,  model  of,  wanted,  22. 

Piticoodzack,  colony  at,  8. 

Pittsburg,  Wayne  at,  208. 

Politician  and  patriot  con 
trasted,  65;  see  also  174. 

Polly,  tea  ship,  15,  16. 

Porcupine  fighter,  Wayne  not 
one,  70. 

Porter,  Gen.,  faith  in  army,  86. 

Posey,  Major  Thomas,  in  light 
corps,  142;  in  Georgia  (col 
onel),  189. 

Pottawattami,  brave  captured, 
216;  name  Wayne,  233. 

Potts,  Isaac,  his  forge,   102. 

Presque  Isle  (Erie),  2;  Wayne 
dies  at,  233. 

Price,  Major,  at  the  Fallen 
Timbers,  223. 

Princeton,  victory  at,  47. 

Proctor's  artillery  at  Chadd's 
Ford,  71. 

Provincial  Assembly  (Pennsyl 
vania),  promotes  Wayne,  21; 
provides  for  warlike  supplies, 
21;  for  navy,  22;  authorizes 
bills  of  credit,  21. 


STO 

Providence  Island,  fort  on,  97. 

Putnam,  Col.  Rufus,  at  Stony 
Point,  142. 

Pyles  Ford,  on  the  Brandy- 
wine,  71. 

QUAKERS,     oppose     British 
ministry,  15;  warlike,  20. 
Quebec  besieged,  30. 
Queen's     Light     Dragoons     at 
Monmouth,  119. 

"DANDOLPH,      BEVERLEY, 

-L^     peace    commissioner,    208. 

Rawdon,  Lord,  Greene's  op 
ponent  in  the  South,  185. 

"Rebels,"  British,  62. 

Recovery,  Ohio,  St.  Clair  at 
tacked  at,  203. 

Red  Clay  Creek,  army  at,  69. 

Reed,  President,  Wayne  writes 
to,  171;  "much  concerned," 
173;  adjusts  mutiny  troubles, 
175. 

Riflemen,  poor  at  hand-to-hand 
fighting,  109. 

Rifles,  experts  with,  few,  29; 
replaced  by  muskets,  61; 
breech-loaders,  Ferguson's, 
73. 

Riot  of  Penn.  troops,  27. 

Rising  Sun  tavern,  115. 

Roche  de  Bout,  Wayne  at,  222. 

Roosevelt  on  British  and  In 
dians,  210,  213. 

Rush,  Dr.  Benjamin,  to  Wayne, 
57;  as  a  politician,  64;  sees 
the  main  feature  of  Stony 
Point,  159. 

ST.    CLAIR,    ARTHUR,    col. 
of   Penn.    bat.,    23;    starts 
for  Three  Rivers,  34;  at  fight, 
35;  driven  from  Ticonderoga, 


244 


Index 


STJ 

66;  supersedes  Wayne,  133; 
jealous  of  Wayne,  134,  et  seq. ; 
•what  John  Adams  said  of, 
174;  sneers  at  Wayne,  183; 
claim  to  recognition,  194; 
Governor  of  Northwest  ter 
ritory,  201;  takes  command  of 
expedition  against  Indians, 
203;  defeated,  203. 

St.  Johns  threatened,  30; 
Americans  at,  44. 

St.  John's  River,  colony  at,  8. 

St.  Lawrence  River,  British 
fleet  in,  32. 

St.  Maurice  River,  36. 

Saltpeter,  price  for,  21. 

Sandusky  Bay,  French  at,  1. 

Sandy  Beach,  regiments  at, 
143;  Wayne  at,  143. 

Savannah,  British  at,  187;  siege 
of,  187;  Wayne  comes  to,  190; 
British  abandon,  192. 

Savannah  River,  Wayne 
crosses,  186. 

Saxe's  Campaigns,  Wayne's 
favorite  book,  19. 

Schuyler,  Gen.  Philip,  ordered 
to  take  St.  Johns  and  Mon 
treal,  30;  at  Crown  Point,  46; 
appeals  for  fresh  troops,  53. 

Schuylkill,  Americans  cross,  76. 

Scott,  Gen.  Charles,  at  Mon- 
mouth,  118;  joins  Wayne,  220; 
at  Fallen  Timbers,  223. 

Sergeant,  Wayne  draws  pistol 
on,  54. 

Sharon,  night  attack  on  Wayne 
at,  191. 

Shawnee  tells  of  British  do 
ings,  216. 

Shee,  John,  colonel  of  Penn. 
bat.,  23. 

Sheel,  Henry,  Wayne  expresses 
pride  to,  170. 


STE 

Sherman,  Lieut. -Col.  Isaac,  at 
Stony  Point,  142. 

Simcoe,  Lieut.-Col.  John 
Graves,  discovers  American 
position,  115;  sent  to  build 
fort  on  Maumee  (Lieut.-Gov.), 
215;  promises  to  Indians,  215, 
216. 

Simpson,  Lieut.,  at  Brandy- 
wine,  74. 

Sisters  Ferry,  Wayne  crosses, 
186. 

Skirmish  line,  Steuben  de 
velops,  108. 

Smallpox  in  patriot  army,  31, 
34;  kills  Gen.  Thomas,  34. 

Smallwood,  Gen.  William,  at 
the  White  Horse  tavern,  78; 
at  Paoli  tavern,  83;  faith  in 
army,  86. 

"Smith's  White  House," 
Wayne's  men  stop  at,  169. 

Society  of  Cincinnati  erects 
monument  to  Wayne,  234. 

Society,  Philadelphia,  de 
scribed,  131. 

Sorel  River,  army  at,  32;  re 
treat  up,  41. 

Spanish  emissaries  to  Indians, 
217. 

Springsteel,  David,  Wayne  at 
his  farm,  150. 

Stephen,  Gen.,  at  Germantown, 
93. 

Steuben,  Baron,  comes  to  Val 
ley  Forge,  107;  develops 
skirmish  line,  108;  at  Mon- 
mouth  council  of  war,  113; 
text-book  desired,  146;  ex 
ceptional  foreigner,  183. 

Stevens  on  war  in  Georgia,  186. 

Steward,  Major  "Jack,"  at 
Stony  Point,  142;  Congress 
thanks,  158. 


245 


Anthony  Wayne 


STB 

Stewart,  Col.  Walter,  describes 
Phila.  society,  131;  follows 
mutineers,  174. 

Stille  speaks  of  Wayne's  "van 
ity,"  24;  quoted,  105. 

Stirling,  Lord,  at  Monmouth 
council  of  war,  113. 

Stony  Point,  Wayne  wants 
clothing  for  soldiers  at  at 
tack  on,  25;  British  take  pos 
session  of,  139;  described,  143; 
British  at,  144,  145;  Wayne's 
inarch  to,  148,  149;  reward 
promised  to  leaders  in  at 
tack,  151;  final  examination 
of,  153;  "Forward!"  154;  won, 
155,  156;  losses  at,  156;  effect 
of  capture,  157. 

Sullivan,  Gen.  John,  sent  to 
Canada,  32;  succeeds  Thomas, 
34;  retreats  up  Sorel  River, 
41;  his  Brandy  wine  message, 
73;  at  Germantown,  89,  et 
seq. 


rpAPPAN,  Wayne  at,  169. 

-*-        Tea  sent  to  colonies,  15. 

Thatcher  on  "Southern" 
troops,  27,  28. 

Thomas,  Gen.  John,  at  Quebec, 
32;  retreats,  32,  33;  dies,  34. 

Thompson,  Gen.  William,  sent 
to  take  Three  Rivers,  34;  at 
battle  of,  38,  et  seq.;  cap 
tured,  40. 

Three  Rivers,  British  at,  34; 
fight  at,  35,  et  seq.;  retreat 
of  Americans,  40,  et  seq. 

Ticonderoga,  captured,  30; 
Carleton  sees  countenance  of 
army  at,  47. 

Toledo,  fort  at,  228. 

Tories    and    loyalists,     64;     in 


VUL 

Bergen    blockhouse,    162;    in 
Georgia,  188;  on  frontier,  216. 

Torn  Mountain,  149. 

Townsend,  Lord,  receives  de 
scription  of  Stony  Point,  145. 

Treaties,  of  peace  with  Chero- 
kees  and  Creeks,  193;  St. 
Clair  and  Indians,  201;  at 
tempt  to  make,  208;  result, 
213;  Wayne's,  with  Indians, 
229;  vote  to  carry  Jay's  into 
effect,  232. 

Trenton,  Hessians  captured  at, 
47. 

Truman,  Major  Alexander, 
peace  envoy,  208. 

Trumble,  Col.  John,  idea  con 
cerning  Carleton,  48. 

Tryon,  Gen.  William,  ravages 
Conn,  coast,  141. 

TTNIFORM,  Wayne's  idea  of, 
U  25;  Washington's  idea  of, 
26;  when  Wayne's  was  rag 
ged,  62,  63;  at  Valley  Forge, 
105,  et  seq.;  "elegant  uni 
form"  for  fighting  in,  146; 
state  of  soldiers',  171,  et  seq. 

~\T ALLEY  FORGE,   camp  at, 


V 


100,    102;    the    winter    at, 


101;  food  scarce,  110. 
Van  Wert  County,  O.,  Wayne's 

trail  through,  221. 
Varnum,    Gen.,    at   Monmouth, 

118. 
Verplanck's  Point,  British  take 

possession  of,  139;  British  at, 

144. 

Virginia  regiments  at  Brandy- 
wine,  71. 

Virginians  at  forks  of  Ohio,  2. 
Vulture,   ship,   at  Stony  Point, 

fired  on,  155. 


246 


Index 


WAR 

WAR,  frontier,  200;  losses 
on,  202;  preparations  for, 
205,  et  seq.;  ended,  225. 

Warren  tavern,  fight  at,  77. 

War-ships  (British),  in  St.  Law 
rence,  32;  at  battle  of  Three 
Rivers,  36;  fleet  of  British, 
leaves  N.  Y.  for  Phila.,  67. 

Warwick,  army  at,  77. 

Washington  crosses  Alleghan- 
ies,  2;  story  of,  parallel  with 
Wayne,  6;  views  of  fine  uni 
form,  26;  sends  soldiers  to 
Canada,  32;  driven  across 
New  Jersey,  47;  at  Trenton, 
47;  marches  to  Middlebrook, 
62;  orders  Wayne  to  army, 
68;  letter  to,  from  Wayne,  69; 
Brandywine,  68,  et  seq. ;  de 
scribes  soldiers,  75;  retreats, 
76;  opinion  of  American  army 
expressed,  76;  ammunition 
destroyed,  77;  hopeful  at 
Germantown,  87;  plans  at 
Germantown,  88,  et  seq.',  at 
Germantown  fight,  91;  letter 
to,  from  Wayne,  99;  council 
before  Monmouth,  113;  re- 
connoiters  British,  116;  orders 
attack,  117;  curses  Lee,  122; 
describes  Phila.  society,  131; 
British  plans  for  "Mr.  Wash 
ington,"  139;  drawn  to  High 
lands,  140;  looks  at  Stony 
Point,  146;  decides  on  plan  of 
attack,  147;  "whom  can  we 
trust  now?"  168;  trusts 
Wayne,  169;  "I  am  again 
happy,"  170;  comes  to  York- 
town,  184;  President,  202; 
choice  for  commander  in 
Northwest  territory,  205; 
lacked  confidence  in  Wayne, 
206;  heeds  peace  at  any  price, 
207;  his  doubts  vanish,  227. 


WAY 

Waterford,  Pa.,  fort  at,  2. 

Waterville,  222. 

Wayne,  Anthony,  born,  1; 
things  he  heard  about  as  a 
boy,  1,  2,  3;  his  father,  3;  war 
like  propensities  at  school,  4; 
goes  to  Philadelphia  school, 
5;  in  mathematics,  6;  Wayne 
and  Washington  parallel,  6,  7; 
surveyor,  7;  Franklin  notices, 
8;  goes  to  Nova  Scotia  for  a 
company,  8;  his  instructions, 
9;  ancestry,  10;  marries,  11; 
home  life,  12;  represents 
Chester  County  freemen,  14; 
ideas  of  duty,  19;  prepares 
for  war,  19;  on  Colonial  Com 
mittee,  20;  in  Navy  Commit 
tee,  22;  colonel  in  army,  23; 
described  ("Dandy"),  24; 
trains  his  men,  29;  ordered  to 
New  York,  29;  goes  to  Canada 
with  Sullivan,  32;  with  Gen. 
Thompson,  34;  first  battle, 
Three  Rivers,  35,  et  seq.;  the 
retreat,  40,  et  seq.;  wounded, 
41;  told  about  by  Allen,  42; 
climbs  Mt.  Defiance,  49;  com 
mands  Ticonderoga,  49;  in  the 
second  post  of  honor,  50;  ap 
peals  for  fresh  troops,  53; 
confronts  mutineers,  53; 
knocks  one  down,  54;  on  open 
fighting,  56;  promoted,  57; 
would  ask  no  favors,  57; 
anxious  to  fight,  59;  at  Mor- 
ristown,  60;  commands  Penn 
sylvania  Line,  60;  described, 
62;  of  the  "governing  class," 
64;  at  Brandywine,  68,  et 
seq.;  leads  American  charge 
at  Brandywine,  72;  stops 
superior  force,  73;  at  Warren 
tavern,  77;  sent  to  annoy 
British,  77;  anxious  to  strike, 


247 


Anthony  Wayne 


WAY 

78;  attacked  at  night,  80;  wife 
well  treated,  84;  court-mar 
tialed,  84;  faith  in  army,  86 
at  Germantown,  89,  et  seq. 
as  at  Three  Rivers,  94 
cheered  by  events,  96;  opinion 
of  councils  of  war,  99;  urges 
battle,  100;  destitution  of 
men  in  Valley  Forge,  104; 
visits  his  men  often,  105;  buys 
cloth  for  men,  105;  watches 
Steuben,  108;  ideal  soldier, 
109;  secures  supplies,  110; 
says  "Fight,  sir!"  at  Mon- 
mouth  council  of  war,  114;  in 
fight,  118,  et  seq.;  faces  the 
"flower"  of  the  British  army, 
121;  Washington  speaks  of,  by 
name,  125;  describes  Mon- 
mouth,  126;  every  kind  of  a 
fighting  man,  129;  speaks  to 
Penn.  Assembly,  133;  super 
seded  by  St.  Clair,  134;  a  let 
ter  he  did  not  send,  135; 
writes  to  Washington,  136, 138; 
in  post  of  honor,  140;  ordered 
to  attack  enemy  on  Hudson, 
141;  arrives  at  Sandy  Beach, 
143;  looks  at  Stony  Point,  145; 
"I'll  storm  hell,"  146;  learns 
details  of  attack  on  Stony 
Point,  147;  orders  dogs  killed, 
148;  confidence  in  troops,  151; 
final  examination  at  Point, 
153;  "Forward!"  154;  the 
assault  on  Stony  Point,  154, 
et  seq.;  wounded,  155,  156; 
Congress  thanks,  and  com 
mends  his  preparations,  158; 
establishes  the  "national 
character,"  159;  goes  home, 
161;  a  "tanner,"  164,  165; 
gloomy,  165;  sincere,  166;  not 
a  complaint  from  him,  168;  a 
wonderful  march,  169;  when 


WAY 

his  soldiers  mutinied,  173,  et 
seq.;  ordered  to  Virginia, 
117;  hangs  mutineers,  178; 
joins  Lafayette,  179;  trapped 
by  Cornwallis,  180;  charges 
5,000  with  800  men,  181;  out 
of  trap,  181;  recovers  Georgia, 
182,  et  scq.;  nickname  "Mad 
Anthony,"  182;  wounded,  184; 
force  in  Georgia,  186;  at 
Ebenezer,  187;  Georgia  proc 
lamation,  188;  keeps  his  men 
and  the  British  moving,  189; 
whips  Brown's  Indian  escort, 
189,  et  seq.;  night  attack  on, 
191;  horse  shot  under  in 
hand-to-hand  fight  with  In 
dian,  191;  sick,  rides  into 
Charleston,  192;  receives 
rice  plantation  from  Geor 
gia,  192;  a  major-general, 
193;  in  civil  life,  195;  honest, 
196;  member  of  Pennsylvania 
Assembly,  197;  elected  to  but 
not  accepted  by  Congress, 
197,  198;  goes  West  in  com 
mand  of  American  army,  199; 
called  to  save  the  nation,  204; 
Washington  not  confident  of, 
and  describes,  206;  in  com 
mand,  207;  advised  by  Knox, 
210;  as  a  drill-master,  210, 
211;  leaves  Fort  Washington, 
217;  on  Maumee,  220,  et  seq.; 
at  "the  Fallen  Timbers," 
222,  et  seq.;  leaves  Fort 
Wayne,  228;  spreads  flag  over 
nation's  own,  230;  applauded, 
231;  thanks  of  Congress,  231; 
to  receive  forts  the  British 
held,  232;  death,  233;  buried 
in  the  shadow  of  the  Gridiron 
Flag,  234,  235. 

Wayne,    Col.    Isaac    (son),    re 
moves  his  father's  bones,  234. 


248 


Index 


WAY 

Wayae,  Gilbert  (Gabriel),  An 
thony's  uncle,  thinks  An 
thony  poor  pupil,  4. 

Wayne,  Isaac,  Anthony's 
father,  3,  4;  reaches  Phila 
delphia,  11;  described,  11; 
dies,  11,  13. 

Waynesborough,  12. 

Weedon's  brigade,  Brandywine, 
71. 

Wemrock  Brook  Ravine,  118. 

West  Point,  Arnold's  treason 
at,  168,  et  seg.;  importance  of, 
170. 

Wetzell,  Louis,  skill  with  rifle, 
211. 

Wharton,  Thomas,  writes  to 
Wayne,  106. 


YOR 
White      Horse      tavern,      Gen. 

Smallwood  at,  78. 
White  Marsh  Church,  camp  at, 

101. 
Wilkinson,   Major  James,  with 

Arnold,  41. 

Winsor,  gives  prevailing  opin 
ion  of  Wayne,  206. 
Woedtke,  Baron  de,  commands 

American      rear  -  guard      on 

Sorel,  42. 

Women,  Indians  and,   3. 
Woodford,  Gen.,  at  Monmouth, 

118. 


Y 


ORK,    Pa.,    Wayne    writes 
from,  177;  leaves,  179. 


(1) 


THE   END 


17 


249 


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